Naval/Maritime History 27th of August - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1801 - HMS Bourdelais (24), Cptn. Thomas Manby, sunk French national corvette La Curieuse (18), Cptn. Radelet, off Barbados


Bordelais (or Bourdolaise, or Bourdelais, or Bordolois), launched in 1799, was a privateer corvette from Bordeaux. She took part in three campaigns before HMS Révolutionnaire captured her. She then served the Royal Navy until broken up in 1804.

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French service
Bordelais departed Bordeaux in December 1798 under Jean-François Thibaut, returning in February 1799. Her command then passed to Jean-Baptiste Darrigrand, who cruised from February to through June.

At the beginning of June Bordelais left Pasajes in company with Grand Décidé and Courageaux. They planned to intercept a convoy from Brazil, send their prizes to Pasajes, and then return there. It is not clear that they were at all successful, and in any case HMS Alcmene captured Courageaux on 26 June.

Thibaut resumed command from July to August. In August, Jacques Moreau took command of Bordelais. Her armament was upgraded she departed for a cruise.

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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary half block model of Bordelais (1799), a French 24 gun sixth rate sloop. The hull is carved from a solid block of wood (?) and is painted a metallic bronze colour with black topsides to the level of the gunwale capping. It has a curved sheer with the bulwarks painted a creamy white colour with a black capping, and pieced with 12 gunports. The bow is complete with headrails just aft of the figurehead (missing), a cathead and a stump bowsprit above. The stern gallery is flat and at an angle, above a sternpost fitted with a rudder. The whole model is mounted on a rectangular wooden backboard which is painted a creamy white colour surrounded by a stained moulded edging on which is inscribed "116".

Capture
On 11 October 1799 Révolutionnaire was off the Irish coast when she sighted a strange sail. Révolutionnaire chased her quarry in a heavy gale for nine and a half hours over a distance of 114 miles (i.e., a rate of 12 miles per hour). When captured, the quarry turned out to be Bordelais, of Bordeaux. She was pierced for 26 guns but carried sixteen 12-pounder guns and eight 36-pounder carronades. She had a crew of 202 men. She had been cruising from Passage for 19 days during which time she had captured two vessels, an American ship carrying a cargo of tobacco, and a Portuguese ship sailing from Cork with provisions. Twysden, in an attempt to interest the Admiralty in purchasing her, described Bordelais as "a most beautiful new Ship, well calculated for His Majesty's Service; was the largest, and esteemed the fastest sailing Privateer out of France."

Bordelais arrived at Plymouth on 24 November. Four hundred French prisoners from Aréthuse and Bourdelaise landed at Plymouth on the same day.[9] The Admiralty took Bordelais into service as the sixth-rate post ship Bordelais.

HMS Bordelais
Bordelais stayed at Plymouth until April 1800, undergoing fitting out. Captain Thomas Manby commissioned her in January 1800. On 15 July, Bordelais captured the French vessel Phoenix. Indefatigable, Sirius, and Boadicea shared with Bordelais by agreement, as did Shannon. At some point, on a trip to Ireland the Bordelais foundered on a sandbank; Manby managed to refloat her by throwing everything possible overboard and she limped back to Plymouth.

After a short period spent blockading the port of Flushing. She proved unsuited to the task, being long, narrow, and low in the water, and consequently so wet her crew sickened. She therefore was ordered back to Spithead.

In December Manby sailed Bordelais for the Jamaica Station, in company with Andromache as escorts to a large convoy. A gale dispersed the convoy near Cape Finisterre and Bordelais was sent to the west of Barbados to look for stragglers. On her way she recaptured two of the stragglers that had already fallen prey to French privateers. One was the Aurora, of London, which only struck after a long chase.

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corvette 'Bordelais' sinking a French man-of-war

On 28 January 1801 Bordelais encountered three French vessels, two large brigs and a schooner, off Barbados. The three were to windward and started to chase Bordelais. Mandy shortened sail to give the enemy a better chance to catch up, which they did around sunset. Mandby then turned Bordelais and engaged the larger of the brigs at a range of ten yards. The other two French vessels held off when they realized could fire her carronades on both broadsides. After about 30 minutes the larger brig struck Robert Barrie, First Lieutenant of Bordelais, took possession of the brig, which turned out to be the 18-gun gun brig Curieuse. Curieuse was pierced for 20 guns and carried eighteen long 9-pounders. She had a crew of 168 men under the command of Captain G. Radelet. Victor "Hughes", governor of Cayenne, had dispatched the three vessels some 28 days earlier to intercept the outward-bound West Indies merchant fleet.

In the engagement Bordelais had one man killed and seven wounded, generally lightly. Curieuse had some 50 men killed and wounded. Radelet survived for a few hours but eventually died from having lost both legs. About an hour after the British took possession, Curieuse started to sink. Manby ordered everyone off her, but 21 British sailors delayed because they were extricating the French wounded. Most of the rescuers were themselves rescued, but seven drowned. Dealing with the situation, securing 120 French prisoners, and repairing sails and rigging delayed Bordelais until 8p.m. She then set off after the two French vessels that had fled but was unable to find them in the night.

In intercepting the three French vessels Manby helped protect the convoy from further predation. Reportedly, the French brig that escaped was Mutine, of sixteen 6-pounder guns and 156 men under the command of J. Reybaud, and the schooner Espérance, of six 4-pounder guns and 52 men under the command of Captain Haywood.

From Barbados Bordelais made her way to Jamaica via Martinique. She then cruised the Mona Passage, where apparently she did great damage to the local trade. In one case a cutting out expedition at Aguadilla Bay by boats from Bordelais and another British vessel cut out a vessel that Manby turned into a tender; this vessel was lost with all hands shortly thereafter.

In a second attack at Aguadilla an attempt to cut out a schooner there ended in failure, but no casualties. The cannon fire from the Spanish defences did so much damage to Bordelais that she had to return to Port Royal for repairs.

Next, Bordelais cut out a small sloop with a cargo of wood from a small harbour on the coast of Puerto Rico. Manby cleared her and fitted her out as a tender. He put his second lieutenant James Gordon in command and gave him a crew of seven men and two boys. Shortly thereafter, a French privateer of one gun and 60 men captured Gordon and his sloop. The privateer took her prize into a small port near Aux Cayes. There they found another sloop, with a cargo of salt, that Bordelais captured the night before, and that the French had already recaptured, together with her prize crew of a midshipman and four men.

The port was under the control of the Haitian government of Toussaint Louverture, which threw the crew of the privateer into prison. The men from Bordelais spent four months in prison but were well treated, with Gordon and the midshipman being permitted to move freely on parole. Eventually all were released to a cartel under the command of Captain Kelpoisson, the commander of the port of Aux Cayes, and the only Frenchman in a position of authority. The British arrived at Port Royal (except for one man who had died), where they found out that the war was over. They returned to Bordelais, where Gordon was able to sit down in the officers' mess before any of his fellow officers even knew that he had returned.

On 23 October Barrie replaced Manby. This was a temporary appointment as Barrie was still a lieutenant. Bourdelais arrived in Portsmouth on 18 January 1802 at the same time as Barrie's promotion to commander was announced.

Then on 29 April 1802 Captain John Hayes replaced Barrie. One source has Commander Barrie as captain of Bourdelais in July 1802, but this seems to be in error.

Fate
Bordelais was broken up in August 1804




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordelais_(1798_ship)
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=22668
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1801 - HM Fireship Incendiary (16), Cptn. Richard Dalling Dunn, taken and destroyed off Cape Spartel by French Squadron under Rear-Admiral Ganteaume


HMS Incendiary was an 8-gun Tisiphone-class fireship of the Royal Navy. She was present at a number of major battles during the French Revolutionary Wars, and captured, or participated in the capture, of several armed vessels. In January 1801 she was in the Gulf of Cadiz where she encountered Admiral Ganteume's squadron. French ship Indivisible was credited with the actual capture.


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lines & profile The drawing appears to be the design draught for 'Tisiphone' class fireships. The 'as built' sheer and profile of 'Comet', 1783, shows built-up bulwarks and other differences to this draught

Early career
Incendiary was commissioned in August 1782, but was paid off within the year. The Navy recommissioned her in September 1790 under Commander William Nowell, but then paid her off again.

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French Revolutionary Wars
Between January and April 1793, Incendiary underwent fitting out at Sheerness. The Navy recommissioned her in February under Commander William Hope, for Admiral Howe's fleet.

In February 1794 Commander John Cooke replaced Hope. Incendiary was then among the support ships in the order of battle at the Glorious First of June. In 1847 the Navy awarded the clasp "1 June 1794" to the NGSM to all surviving claimants from the battle.

Main article: Glorious First of June
In June Commander Richard Bagot replaced Cooke, only to have Commander John Draper replace him in April 1795. Incendiary was again among the support ships at the battle at the Île de Groix on 23 June. In 1847 the Navy awarded the clasp " 23rd June 1795" to the NGSM to all surviving claimants from the battle.

Main article: Battle of Groix
In July Commander Thomas Rogers replaced Draper, only to be replaced in August by Commander Henry Digby. In December 1796 Commander George Barker replaced Digby.

In January 1797, Incendiary participated in the aftermath of the French Expédition d'Irlande. On 8 January she was present when Daedalus and Majestic captured the French troopship Suffern off Ushant. Her captors burnt Suffern to avoid weakening their crews to man the prize.

Between July and September 1797 Incendiary was at Portsmouth undergoing refitting. In December 1799 she was under the command of Commander Richard Dunn.

On 11 February 1800 Phoenix and Incendiary captured the French privateer Éole off Cape Spartel. Éole was armed with 10 guns and had a crew of 89 men. She was ten days out of Guelon, Spain, and had not taken any prizes.

Main article: Action of 7 April 1800
In April 1800, Incendiary was on blockade duty at Cadiz as part of a squadron under Rear-Admiral John Thomas Duckworth. On 5 April the squadron sighted a Spanish convoy comprising thirteen merchant vessels and three accompanying frigates, and at once gave chase. When the larger British vessels reached Gibraltar they encountered Incendiary, which had made port the previous day with two captured vessels of her own. In all, the small British squadron managed to secure nine merchant vessels and two frigates.

Incendiary captured the French privateer brig Egyptienne (or Egyptien) in the Mediterranean on 12 May 1800. Egyptienne was armed with eight guns and had a crew of 50 men.

On 26 February 1801 two French brigs arrived at Plymouth carrying wine and brandy. Sprightly and Incendiary had captured them before falling prey to Ganteaume.

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Frame (ZAZ5593)

Loss
Incendiary, under the command of Captain Richard Dun(n), was crossing the Gulf of Cadiz when at daybreak lookouts sighted two ships of the line. When these vessels did not return the private signals, she fled. Finally, at 11pm on 29 January 1801, Indivisible captured Incendiary. The French removed her crew and scuttled her.

Captain Dunn, of Incendiary, underwent a court martial on 6 May aboard HMS Gladiator for the loss of his vessel. The court acquitted him


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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Incendiary_(1782)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-354541;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=T
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1801 - HMS Forte (44), Cptn. Lucius Ferdinand Hardyman, wrecked on a sunken rock in the harbour of Jedda, Red Sea.


Forte was a French 42-gun frigate, lead ship of her class.

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Career
French service

Launched on 26 September 1794 and commissioned two months later under Commander Beaulieu-Leloup, Forte was part of a large frigate squadron under contre-amiral Sercey, also comprising Prudente, Régénérée, Vertu, Seine, Cybèle and Preneuse. The division sailed to Ile de France to raid commerce in the Indian Ocean.

On 15 May 1796 Forte, Vertu, Seine, and Régénérée were cruising between St Helena and the Cape of Good Hope hoping to capture British East Indiamen when they encountered the British whaler Lord Hawkesburyon her way to Walvis Bay. The French took off her crew, except for two seamen and a boy, and put Forte's fourth officer and 13-man prize crew aboard Lord Hawkesbury with orders to sail to Île de France. On her way there one of the British seamen, who was at the helm, succeeded in running her aground on the east coast of Africa a little north of the Cape, wrecking her. There were no casualties, but the prize crew became British prisoners.

Forte took part in the Action of 8 September 1796, where the frigates drove off two British 74-guns.

In 1797, Forte and Prudente were sent to Batavia to ferry troops. Command of Forte was given to Captain Ravenel. Against the wishes of Sercey, General Malartic restored Beaulieu to command.

While operating in the Bay of Bengal in early 1799, Forte captured a number of vessels. These were (with their master's name in parentheses): Recovery (M'Kinley), Chance (Johnson). Yarmouth (Beck), Endeavour(Eastwick), Earl Mornington (Cook), and Surprize (Moore). Forte also captured two unnamed vessels. She made a cartel of one of her captures and sent her into Madras.

On 24 February 1799, Forte encountered the East Indiaman Osterley. A sharp single-ship action developed, with Osterley losing four men killed and 13 wounded before she struck. Forte spent two days or so transferring some of Osterley's cargo before he let her and her crew proceed. Some accounts state that he released her as a cartel for an exchange of prisoners. Lloyd's List reported that the galley Surprize participated in the engagement but escaped.

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Extrait de l’Atlas du Génie Maritime. Service historique de la Défense.


Battle against HMS Sybille
Main article: Action of 28 February 1799
On 1 March 1799, off Bengal, Forte chased and captured two merchantmen. Around 22:00, as Forte sailed to take possession of her prize, a sail was detected leeward, which Beaulieu-Leloup deemed to be another merchantman in spite of the suspicions of his officers. The crew of Forte went to their sleeping quarters, and it took some time to realise that the strange ship was closing in and to call the crew to Battle Stations. When readied, Forte turned about and recognized the ship to be the 38-gun HMS Sybille, under Captain Edward Cooke.

At 12:15, Forte opened fire with a few shots, which were left unanswered until she came down the side of Sybille, at which point the British frigate delivered a full broadside, turned about and raked Forte with a second broadside. In the confusion of the battle, the gun crews of Forte were not advised that Sybille had circled around to starboard, and they kept firing their port guns at a ship whose silouhette could be seen through the smoke, but which was actually one of the prizes. After some time, the mistake was realised and the starboard battery was manned; however, as part of the crew of Forte had been dispatched to man her prizes, Fortewas too short-handed to man her forecastle guns.

At 1:40, a cannonball killed Captain Beaulieu-Leloup and command of Forte passed to Lieutenant Vigoureux. Around the same time, Captain Cooke was mortally wounded on Sybille and relinquished his own command. Vigoureux was killed at 2:00, and Lieutenant Luco took command. By that time, only four guns were still firing. Luco attempted to manoeuver, but the heavily damaged rigging collapsed at 2:25. Sybille inquired whether it was to be understood that Forte had struck her colours, and ceased fire when this was confirmed.

British service
Forte was taken into British service as HMS Forte. She was under the command of Captain Hardyman when she was wrecked on 29 January 1801 off Jeddah, in the Red Sea. She was entering the port with a pilot, William Briggs, when she struck a rock. Briggs knew of the rock, which was visible the whole time, but failed to issue any orders. Hardyman eventually ordered the helmsman to turn, but it was too late. Forte reached the shore and ran up the beach, where she capsized. The court martial board admonished Briggs to be more circumspect in the future and penalized him one year's seniority as a master.

Still, as her ship's company had served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.

Post-script
In 1811 French naval engineers examined the USS Constitution while she was visiting Cherbourg. The engineers compared the design of the American frigate to that of the lost Forte.

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The French 24-pounder frigate Égyptienne.

The Forte class was a class of two frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1794 by François Caro. They carried 28 24-pounder long guns as their main battery, making them heavy frigates for their time
Builder: Lorient
Begun: 30 May 1794
Launched: 26 September 1794
Completed: November 1794
Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 1 March 1799, became HMS Forte, wrecked in 1801.
Builder: Toulon
Begun: 26 September 1798
Launched: 17 July 1799
Completed: November 1799
Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 2 September 1801, became HMS Egyptienne, sold for breaking up 30 April 1817


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A Detailed Ship History of the two ships and the Forte class with further drawings and paintings you can find in our area
Ship History and Research in the topic French frigate Égyptienne (1799) - later fifth-rate frigate HMS Egyptienne (1801 - 1817) - Forte class

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Forte_(1794)
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1805 - HMS Raven (14), a Cruizer class brig sloop, wrecked on the beach at Santa Catalina, near Cadiz.


HMS Raven was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Perry, Wells and Green at Blackwall Yard and launched in 1804. Although she embodied some interesting innovations tailored for service in the area of the Straits of Gibraltar, she was wrecked before she got on station and never tested them. Her captain, the innovator, was the subject of a miscarriage of justice at his court martial for the loss of the ship from which his career never recovered.

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Service
She was commissioned under Commander William Layman in August. Based on his experience in the Straits of Gibraltar with Weazel he suggested some modifications to existing vessels that would make them more successful in that area. Weazel, with Layman in command, had been wrecked on 1 March 1804 when a gale drove her near Cabritta Point in Gibraltar Bay and smashed to pieces, with the loss of one man killed. Layman was a protégé of Lord Nelson, with whom he had served in three ships, and with Nelson’s support he was allowed to implement some of his ideas.

Layman only had time to make changes to Raven's armament. He closed the two foremost ports and replaced their guns with a single 68-pounder carronade that he mounted on a traverse carriage (i.e., pivot-mounted) immediately before the foremast in a way that it could fire over the gunwales. Similarly, a second 68-pounder, also mounted on a traverse, replaced the two stern chasers. Should gunboats threaten a becalmed Raven, she could present a powerful response on any azimuth.

Loss
On 21 January 1805 Raven sailed to join Lord Nelson's squadron with dispatches for him and for Sir John Orde off Cadiz.. She arrived at the rendezvous on 29 January, some two to ten leagues off Cadiz, however Orde's squadron was not there.

Layman reduced sail and hove to for the night. A leadline sounding was taken, which showed that there was no bottom at 80 fathoms (150 m). He assumed that Raven was well offshore and retired, leaving instructions that the watch should throw the lead every half hour.

At about midnight the officer of the watch called with the news that he had sighted the lights of the squadron. Before he could get on deck the officer of the watch came down the ladder, apparently agitated, and reported that the lights were those of Cadiz, not the squadron. Layman immediately went on deck and ordered a sounding be taken. It showed 10 fathoms (18 m), rapidly shoaling to 5 fathoms (9 m) as he turned Raven about.

At daylight Layman discovered that Raven was close inshore with Spanish warships at anchor off Cadiz on the one side and batteries in a fort at Santa Catalina on the other. Unwilling to surrender, and in spite of a strong wind from the west, he managed to clear the shoals. However, the main yard broke "in the slings" and Layman was forced to anchor Raven off Rota. The wind increased to gale strength and eventually the heavy seas caused the anchor cables to part. The gale then threw Raven onto the beach at Santa Catalina. Layman threw the despatches he was carrying overboard, weighted with 32-pounder shot. He lost only two men; they had disobeyed his orders and drowned while trying to reach shore at the height of the gale during the high tide. Once the tide receded it was easy for the crew to land on the beach.

Raven herself was unsalvageable, though the Spaniards were able to recover her carronades. The Spanish took the crew prisoner but permitted the officers to move freely within a radius of 200 nautical miles (370 km). Shortly thereafter the officers were exchanged.

Court martial
While in Spanish custody Layman made inquiries amongst the crew. He discovered that the watch had neglected his instructions to use the leadline every half-hour. Furthermore, the officer of the watch had been below, drunk, when the lookouts first spotted the lights.

When Layman was back in Gibraltar he shared his findings with Nelson, but Nelson advised Layman not blame his boatswain, master and officer of the watch. Nelson feared that the officer of the watch would receive a death sentence for his conduct. Nelson assured Layman that "You will not be censured."

However, Nelson had misjudged the situation. The court martial on 9 March 1805 ordered Layman to be reprimanded severely and sentenced him to loss of seniority. The court martial minutes include a note by an Admiralty official that, "Their Lordships are of the opinion that Captain Layman is not a fit person to be entrusted with the command of one of H.M.'s ships."

There was one member of the court martial who was particularly adamant the Layman be censured. Layman may have annoyed some senior officers with his outspoken suggestions for improvements to the Navy and its ships.

Layman appealed his sentence, with support from Nelson, but the Admiralty was not willing to overturn the court martial verdict. Nelson was killed at Trafalgar in October 1805 and so could not plead further Layman's case.

Subsequent courts martial dealt with Layman’s officers. The court martial board judged that the master, John Edwards had been negligent in not taking regular soundings and in not monitoring Raven's movements. He was barred for two years from being able to sit for the examination for promotion to lieutenant. The court martial of Raven's second lieutenant, who had been the officer of the watch, resulted in his being dismissed from the service.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Raven_(1804)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1805 - HMS Kingfisher (18), Richard William Cribb, captured French privateer Deux Amis (6), Francis Dutrique, in the Caribbean


HMS Kingfisher (or King's Fisher or Kingsfisher) was a Royal Navy 18-gun Merlin-class ship sloop, designed by William Rule, built by John King and launched in 1804 at Dover. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, first in the Caribbean and then in the Mediterranean before being broken up in 1816.

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Caribbean
Kingfisher was commissioned under Commander Richard William Cribb in April 1804. He sailed her to the Leeward Islands and initially she operated from Barbados.

In January King's Fisher captured the French privateer schooner Deux Amis. She was pierced for eight guns but only had two on board at the time of her capture, having thrown the others overboard as she tried to escape her pursuers. She had a crew of 39 men, under the command of Francis Dutrique. She was ten days out of Guadeloupe and had captured nothing. Cribb credited His Majesty's schooner Grenada with having chased Deux Amis into his hands. Furthermore, when Grenada's commander saw that Kingfisher would capture Deux Amis, he chased and recaptured the sloop Hero.

On 11 April 1805, her boats cut out the Spanish privateer Damas from an anchorage under Cape St. Juan. She was pierced for four guns but only mounted one 8-pounder. She also carried 40 muskets for her crew of 57 men. Damas had left Cumaná, Venezuela, ten days earlier for a cruise off Demerara on what was her first cruise, but had captured nothing. She put up a little resistance and there was fire from the shore, but Kingsfisher suffered no casualties. In April 1826 head money for the capture of the Deux Amis and the Damas was finally paid.

On 27 June, when about 180 miles to north-east of Barbuda, Kingfisher, Captain Richard William Cribb, and Osprey, Captain Timothy Clinch, found themselves being chased by French frigates. While making sail to escape, the two sloops hoisted signals and fired guns, as if signaling to a fleet ahead. Their pursuers immediately gave up the chase, which gave Kingfisher and Osprey the opportunity to catch up with a group of 15 French merchant vessels with cargoes of rum, sugar and coffee. The two British sloops left all 15 merchantmen in flames.

Cribb died in June 1805. From July Kingfisher was under the command of Commander Nathaniel Day Cochrane.

On 16 December Kingfisher captured the French privateer Elisabeth, out of Guadaloupe after a 12-hour chase. Elizabeth was armed with ten 6-pounder guns and four 9-pounder carronades. She had a crew of 102, but 11 men were away in the Cambrian, which Elizabeth had captured after Cambrian had left a convoy on 28 October. Cambrian had been carrying a cargo of coal from Cork to Jamaica; HMS Melville recaptured Cambrian. Cochrane noted that Elizabeth was a fine vessel, well worth taking into the Royal Navy, which advice the Navy took, commissioning her as HMS Elizabeth.

Also that day Kingfisher and Hyaena captured a Spanish polacca sailing to Vera Cruz with merchandise. On 28 December Kingsfisher and Heureux captured the Spanish merchant brig Solidad, which was carrying brandy and wine from Cadiz to Vera Cruz.

In 1806, Kingfisher was attached to the British squadron under Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth. On 1 February she brought intelligence that a French squadron of three sail of the line had been seen steering towards the city of Santo Domingo. Duckworth gathered his squadron and on 6 February met the French in the Battle of San Domingo. Kingfisher was highly commended for her services in the aftermath of the action, with Cochrane being promoted to Post-captain. In 1807 Kingfisher shared with the rest of Duckworth's squadron in the prize money for the capture of the Alexander, Jupiter and Brave. In 1847 the Admiralty would issue to any surviving crew members that claimed it the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Domingo".

George Francis Seymour, who had been severely wounded while serving in Northumberland in the battle of San Domingo, succeeded Cochrane. Kingfisher then sailed for the Channel.

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Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plans, sheer lines with alterations to the forecastle, and longitudinal half-breadth for Wolf (1804), Martin (1805), Brisk (1805), Star (1805), Kangaroo (1805), Cygnet (1804), Ariel (1806), Helena (1804), Albacore (1804), Fly (1804), Kingfisher (1804), Otter (1805), Rose (1805), and Halifax (1806), all 16-gun Ship Sloops with quarterdeck and forecastles. These ships were to be built similar to the Merlin (1796) and the Pheasant (1798).

European theatre
On 14 May Kingfisher towed Pallas after Pallas had rammed Minerve in the Basque Roads.

In July, Seymour was posted into Aurora and Commander William Hepenstall took command of Kingfisher. On 27 September she was with Admiral Sir Thomas Louis's squadron when the 40-gun French frigate President surrendered to the 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop Dispatch, assisted by the 74-gun third rate Canopus and the frigate Blanche.

In October, Hepenstall sailed Kingsfisher to the Mediterranean. Here, she was operating off the Turkish coast near Karaman, when on 27 June 1808 she captured the French letter of marque Hercule after a six-hour chase and an hour-long fight. Hercule, under Gerome Cavassa (a member of the Legion of Honour), was carrying a cargo of cotton from Aleppo and Cyprus to Marseilles or Genoa. She was armed with 12 guns, ranging in size from 8-pounders to 18-pounders. Her crew numbered 57 men, of whom one was killed and two were wounded. Kingfisher suffered extensive damage to her rigging but had only one man slightly wounded.

In 1809, under Commander Ewell Tritton, on 12 March she was in company with the 38-gun fifth-rate frigate Topaze when Topaze engaged in an inconclusive action in the Adriatic with the 40-gun Flore and the 44-gun Danaé. Topaze sustained no casualties or meaningful damage.

On 1 October Kingfisher joined a squadron off Zante. On 3 October the British captured the port.

In 1810, a midshipman from Kingfisher, together with a corporal of marines and four boys, captured a trabaccolo that turned out to have some 100 French soldiers aboard. Kingfisher conveyed them to Malta.

In 1811, Kingfisher was in the Adriatic, participating indirectly in the Action of 29 November 1811 when Active captured Pomone. Kingsfisher came up after the fighting was over and took Pomone in tow. Later, Kingfisher shared in the prize money.

On 29 January 1813 Kingfisher was in company with Cerberus when they captured the Madona della Grazia. Prize money was paid in April 1838.

2 February 1813, after a five-hour chase, her boats captured one trabaccolo and ran nine ashore at St. Catherine's, Corfu, of which five were destroyed. Kingfisher lost two men killed and seven severely wounded.

On 27 May 1813, Kingsfisher was at Port Slano (Croatia). There she destroyed three vessels and took six, laden with grain and wine for Ragussa.

Fate
Between 1814 and 1816, Kingfisher was placed in ordinary at Portsmouth. She was broken up in October 1816.

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Frame (ZAZ3501)

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Inboard profile plan (ZAZ3502)

The Merlin class was a class of twenty-one sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. They were all built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Jacob Acworth, the Surveyor of the Navy; however, there was a difference, with a platform deck being constructed in the hold in Swallow (i), Merlin, Raven and Swallow (ii), whereas the other seventeen had no platform and thus their depth in hold was nearly twice as much.

Although initially armed with ten 6-pounder guns, this class was built with seven pairs of gunports on the upper deck, enabling them to be re-armed with fourteen 6-pounders later in their careers.

The first two – Swallow and Merlin – were ordered on 7 July 1743 to be built to replace two ex-Spanish vessels (the Galgo and Peregrine's Prize, both captured in 1742, and put into service by the British). Two more vessels to the same design were ordered on 30 March 1744; another two were ordered five days later, four more followed on 23 May and three others were ordered later that year.

On 5 April 1745 five more were ordered – including a second Falcon (named to replace the first, captured in the same year) and a second Swallow (similarly to replace the first, wrecked in 1744) – and a single extra vessel was ordered on 11 April. A final pair were ordered on 9 January 1746.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Kingfisher_(1804)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin-class_sloop
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-323533;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=K
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=5001
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=22803
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_class&id=397
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1810 - Boats of HMS Phoenix (36), Cptn Thomas Baker, and HMS Jalouse (18) captured Charles (14).


On 28 January 1810 Phoenix, with the ship-sloop Jalouse, chased the 14-gun French privateer brig Charles, but lost her in thick fog. The next day Phoenix discovered Charles anchored close under the French coast. A cutting out expedition then went in in boats. Charles had a crew of 70 men, who resisted, killing one seaman on Phoenix and wounding another. Jalouse had no casualties. Still, the boats succeeded in taking Charles, where they found two English masters and 13 seamen who had been taken out of vessels a few days previously. One of the vessels Charles had captured was David, Wilkinson, master, which had been sailing from Newfoundland to Waterford. Her captors sent Charles into Plymouth.


HMS Phoenix was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionaryand Napoleonic Wars and was instrumental in the events leading up to the battle of Trafalgar. Phoenix was involved in several single-ship actions, the most notable occurring on 10 August 1805 when she captured the French frigate Didon, which was more heavily armed than her. She was wrecked, without loss of life, off Smyrna in 1816.

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Perseverance class 36-gun fifth rates 1781-83, designed by Edward Hunt.

HMS Jalouse
was a Cormorant-class ship-sloop of the British Royal Navy launched in 1809 and sold in 1819. She participated in the capture of a French privateer, but spent most of her active service escorting convoys. The Navy sold her in 1816.

Jalouse_(1809)_plan.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail and midship framing, and longitudinal half-breadth for Jalouse (1809)

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The Cormorant class were built as a class of 16-gun ship sloops for the Royal Navy, although they were re-rated as 18-gun ships soon after completion.

Design
The two Surveyors of the Navy – Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow – jointly designed the class. A notation on the back of the plans held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, states that the designers based their plan on the lines of the captured French sloop Amazon, captured in 1745.

The Admiralty ordered six vessels to this design in February 1793; it ordered a seventh vessel in the following year. These ships were initially armed with sixteen 6-pounder guns, later supplemented with eight 12-pounder carronades (6 on the quarter deck and 2 on the forecastle). The 6-pounder guns were eventually replaced by 24-pounder carronades.

Twenty-four more were ordered to the same design in 1805 – 1806, although in this new batch 32-pounder carronades were fitted instead of the 6-pounder guns originally mounted in the earlier batch; the 12-pounder carronades were replaced by 18-pounders, and some ships also received two 6-pounders as chase guns on the forecastle.

Of this second batch one ship (Serpent) was cancelled and another (Ranger) completed to a slightly lengthened variant of the design.

large (19).jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the quarterdeck and forecastle, inboard profile, and upper deck for Hornet (1794), Cormorant (1794), Favourite (1794), Lynx (1794), Hazard (1794), Lark (1794), and Stork (1796), all 16-gun Ship Sloops. The plan was later altered in 1805 and used to build Hyacinth (1806), Herald (1806), Sabrina (1806), Cherub (1806), Minstrel (1807), Blossom (1806), Favourite (1806), Sapphire (1806), Wanderer (1806), Partridge (1809), Tweed (1807), Egeria (1807), Ranger (1807), Anacreon (1813), and Acorn (1807), Rosamond (1807), Fawn (1807), Myrtle (1807), Racoon (1808), and North Star (1810) all modified Cormorant class 16-gun Ship Sloops. The plan was altered again in 1808 while building Hesper (1809). The design for this class is 'similar to the French Ship Amazon' - the French Amazon (captured 1745).



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Phoenix_(1783)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jalouse_(1809)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1943 - The Battle of Rennell Island
begins when Japanese shore-based aircraft attack Task Force 18 cruisers and destroyers covering the movement of transports toward Guadalcanal. USS Chicago (CA 29) is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers and sinks the next day.



The Battle of Rennell Island (Japanese: レンネル島沖海戦) took place on 29–30 January 1943. It was the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. It occurred in the South Pacific between Rennell Island and Guadalcanal in the southern Solomon Islands.

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In the battle, Japanese naval land-based torpedo bombers, seeking to provide protection for the impending evacuation of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, made several attacks over two days on U.S. warships operating as a task force south of this island. In addition to approaching Guadalcanal with the objective of engaging any Japanese ships that might come into range, the U.S. task force was protecting an Allied transport ship convoy carrying replacement troops there.

As a result of the Japanese air attacks on the task force, one U.S. heavy cruiser was sunk, a destroyer was heavily damaged, and the rest of the U.S. task force was forced to retreat from the southern Solomons area. Partly because they turned back the U.S. task force in this battle, the Japanese successfully evacuated their remaining troops from Guadalcanal by 7 February 1943, leaving it in the hands of the Allies and ending the battle for the island.

Battle
Prelude


US_cruisers_of_Task_Force_18_at_sea_en_route_to_Guadalcanal_on_29_January_1943.jpg
U.S. cruisers of Task Force 18 at sea en route to Guadalcanal on 29 January 1943, just hours prior to the Japanese night air attack off Rennell Island. Photographed from USS Wichita. USS Chicago is in the right center, with Louisville in the distance.

In addition to protecting the troop convoy, TF 18 was charged with rendezvousing with a force of four U.S. destroyers, stationed at Tulagi, at 21:00 on 29 January in order to conduct a sweep up "The Slot" north of Guadalcanal the next day to screen the unloading of the troop transports at Guadalcanal. However, the escort carriers, under Commodore Ben Wyatt, were too slow (18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h)) to allow Giffen's force to make the scheduled rendezvous, so Giffen left the carriers behind with two destroyers at 14:00 and pushed on ahead at 24 kn (28 mph; 44 km/h). Wary of the threat from Japanese submarines, which Allied intelligence indicated were likely in the area, Giffen arranged his cruisers and destroyers for anti-submarine defense, not expecting an air attack. The cruisers were aligned in two columns, spaced 2,500 yd (2,300 m) apart. Wichita, Chicago, and Louisville, in that order, were to starboard, and Montpelier, Cleveland, and Columbia were to port. The six destroyers were in a semicircle 2 mi (1.7 nmi; 3.2 km) ahead of the cruiser columns.

Giffen's force was tracked by Japanese submarines, who reported its location and movement. Around mid-afternoon, based on the submarine reports, 16 Mitsubishi G4M Type 1 bombers from the 705 Air Group (705AG) and 16 Mitsubishi G3M Type 96 bombers from the 701 Air Group (701AG) took off from Rabaul carrying torpedoes to attack Giffen's force. One Type 96 turned back with engine trouble, leaving 31 bombers in the attack force. The leader of the 705AG aircraft was Lieutenant Tomō Nakamura and Lieutenant Commander Joji Hagai commanded the 701AG planes.

Action on 29 January

Chart of Japanese air attack (dashed red line) on U.S. Task Force 18 (solid black line) between Rennell Island and Guadalcanal on the evening of 29 January 1943

At sunset, as TF 18 headed northwest 50 mi (43 nmi; 80 km) north of Rennell Island and 160 mi (140 nmi; 260 km) south of Guadalcanal, several of Giffen's ships detected unidentified aircraft on radar 60 mi (52 nmi; 97 km) west of their formation. Having previously insisted on absolute radio silence, Giffen gave no orders about what to do about the unidentified contacts, or any orders at all, for that matter. With the setting of the sun, TF 18's combat air patrol (CAP) from the two escort carriers returned to their ships for the night, leaving Giffen's ships without air cover.

The radar contacts were, in fact, the approaching 31 Japanese torpedo bombers, who circled around to the south of TF 18 so that they could attack from the east, with the black backdrop of the eastern sky behind them. From this direction, the Japanese bombers were hidden by the night sky, but Giffen's ships were silhouetted against the twilight of the western horizon. The 705AG aircraft attacked first, beginning at 19:19. Nakamura's aircraft missed with all of their torpedoes and one was shot down by anti-aircraft fire from Giffen's ships.

Believing the attack was over, Giffen ordered his ships to cease zigzagging and continue towards Guadalcanal on the same course and at the same speed. Meanwhile, a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft began dropping flares and floatlights to mark the course and speed of TF 18 for the impending attack by Hagai's bombers.

At 19:38, 701AG attacked, planting two torpedoes in Chicago, causing heavy damage and bringing the cruiser to a dead stop. Another torpedo hit Wichita but did not explode. Two bombers were shot down by anti-aircraft fire, including Hagai's; he was killed. At 20:08, Giffen ordered his ships to reverse direction, to slow to 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h), and to cease firing their anti-aircraft guns. The absence of muzzle flashes concealed the ships from the Japanese aircraft, who all departed the area by 23:35. In pitch darkness, Louisville managed to take the crippled Chicago under tow and slowly headed south, away from the battle area, escorted by the rest of TF 18.

Action on 30 January

USS_Louisville_(CA-28)_tows_USS_Chicago_(CA-29)_during_the_Battle_of_Rennell_Island_on_30_Janu...jpg
USS Louisville (right) tows the crippled Chicago on the morning of 30 January 1943.

Halsey immediately took steps to try to protect Chicago, notifying the escort carriers to make sure they had a CAP in place at first light, ordering the Enterprise task force to approach and augment the escort carrier CAP, and sending the fleet tug Navajo to take over the tow from Louisville, which was accomplished at 08:00. Between daybreak and 14:00, numerous Japanese scout aircraft approached TF 18. Although they were all chased away by the CAP, they observed and reported the position of Chicago. At 12:15, a force of 11 Type 1 torpedo bombers from the 751 Air Group (751AG), based at Kavieng and staging through Buka, launched to attack the damaged U.S. cruiser. An Australian coastwatcher in the Solomon Islands warned the U.S. forces of the bombers, and estimated their arrival time as 16:00. However, Halsey ordered the other cruisers to leave Chicago behind and head for Efate in the New Hebrides. They departed at 15:00, leaving behind six destroyers to protect Chicago and Navajo.

At 15:40, Enterprise was 43 mi (37 nmi; 69 km) away from Chicago, with ten of her fighters forming a CAP over the damaged cruiser. At this time, four of the CAP fighters chased and shot down a scout Type 1 bomber. At 15:54, Enterprise's radar detected the incoming bomber flight, and launched 10 more fighters. The escort carriers, however, had difficulties in getting their aircraft launched, and their aircraft did not attack the bombers until the engagement was over.


Japanese aerial attack (dotted red line) on Chicago (yellow dot) on the morning of 30 January 1943. Black arrows are U.S. carrier fighter aircraft.

At first, the Japanese bombers appeared to be trying to approach and attack Enterprise but turned toward Chicago after six Enterprise CAP fighters began to engage them. Four other CAP fighters chased the 751AG aircraft as they entered the anti-aircraft fire from Chicago's escorting destroyers. Two of the bombers were shot down before they could release their ordnance. Six more were shot down moments later, but not before they dropped their torpedoes.

One torpedo hit the destroyer USS La Vallette in her forward engine room, killing 22 of her crew and causing heavy damage. Chicago was hit by four torpedoes, one forward of the bridge and three others in her engineering spaces. Captain Ralph O. Davis of Chicago ordered the ship to be abandoned, and she sank, stern first, 20 minutes later. Navajo and the escorting destroyers rescued 1,049 survivors from Chicago, but 62 of her crew died. A final attack force of Japanese torpedo bombers failed to find the remaining U.S. ships. Navajo took La Vallette under tow, and all of the remaining ships of TF 18 made port at Espiritu Santo without further incident.

Aftermath
The Japanese widely publicized the results of the engagement, claiming to have sunk a battleship and three cruisers. The U.S. on the other hand, tried to conceal the loss of Chicago from the public for some time, with Admiral Chester Nimitz threatening to "shoot" any of his staff who leaked the loss of Chicago to the press. Halsey and Nimitz blamed Giffen for the defeat and so stated in Giffen's official performance report for the period. The defeat and resulting recriminations did not affect Giffen's career; he continued to lead Allied battleship and cruiser task forces in the Pacific until 1944 and was later promoted to Vice Admiral.

With Japanese aircraft engaged with TF 18, the Allied transports completed their mission of replacing the remaining Marines on Guadalcanal over the last two days in January 1943. During this time, the other Allied task forces, including the two fleet carrier task forces, took station in the Coral Sea, in anticipation of an expected Japanese offensive in the southern Solomons.

With TF 18 forced to retreat, very few Allied naval forces were left in the immediate Guadalcanal area, allowing the Japanese to retrieve most of their remaining ground forces from Guadalcanal (Operation Ke) over three nights between 2 and 7 February 1943. The Allies were not aware of the Japanese withdrawal until it was over, but the evacuation of a small number of starving troops and the loss of one cruiser became a footnote to the securing of Henderson Field and Guadalcanal, which provided the air support springboard to successfully complete the Solomon Islands campaign, a major turning point in the Pacific War


USS Chicago (CL/CA-29) was a Northampton-class cruiser of the United States Navy that served in the Pacific Theater in the early years of World War II. She was the second US Navy ship to be named after the city of Chicago. After surviving a midget submarine attack at Sydney Harbour and serving in battle at the Coral Sea and Savo Island in 1942, she was sunk by Japanese aerial torpedoes in the Battle of Rennell Island, in the Solomon Islands, on 30 January 1943.

USS_Chicago_(CA-29)_underway_off_New_York_City_on_31_May_1934_(NH_715).jpg
The U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29) underway off New York City, during the 31 May 1934 fleet review.

Torpedoed_cruiser_USS_Chicago_(CA-29)_low_in_the_water_on_30_January_1943.jpg
USS Chicago low in the water on the morning of 30 January 1943, from torpedo damage inflicted the night before. She was sunk by another air attack that afternoon.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rennell_Island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Chicago_(CA-29)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1943 - The Japanese submarine I-1 wrecked after a surface battle at Kamimbo Bay, Guadalcanal.


The Japanese submarine I-1 was a J1 type submarine built by Kawasaki, Kobe, for the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was a large cruiser submarine displacing 2,135 tons and was the lead of four boats built in the class.

Japanese_submarine_I-1.jpg

She was commissioned on 10 March 1926 and served in the Second World War. On 29 January 1943, during Operation Ke, the New Zealand naval trawlers Kiwi and Moa intercepted and wrecked her after a surface battle at Kamimbo Bay, Guadalcanal.

Her wrecking

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The crew of U.S. PT boat PT-65inspects the wreckage of Japanese submarine I-1

On 29 January 1943 she encountered the New Zealand minesweepers, Kiwi and Moa. Unable to penetrate I-1's hull with their deck guns,[citation needed] the minesweepers rammed and chased her to shallow water, eventually driving her aground on the reef at Kamimbo Bay, Guadalcanal. The wreck partially protrudes from the water.

Critical materials remained on board and the Japanese command tried unsuccessfully to destroy the boat with air and submarine attacks. The U.S. Navy reportedly salvaged code books, charts, manuals, the ship's log, and other secret documents, as well as equipment.

I-1's pennant is on display at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_submarine_I-1
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1944 - The battleship USS Missouri (BB 63) is christened.
Built at the New York Navy Yard, her keel was laid on Jan. 6, 1941. After her christening and launching Jan. 29, she is completed rapidly, commissioning on June 11 of the same year, the last battleship to enter active service in the U.S. Navy.



USS Missouri (BB-63) ("Mighty Mo" or "Big Mo") is an Iowa-class battleship and was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after the U.S. state of Missouri. Missouri was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and is best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II.

Missouri was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944. In the Pacific Theater of World War II she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands, and she fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. She was decommissioned in 1955 into the United States Navy reserve fleets (the "Mothball Fleet"), but reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, and provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm in January/February 1991.

Missouri received a total of 11 battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf, and was finally decommissioned on 31 March 1992 after serving a total of 16 years of active service, but remained on the Naval Vessel Register until her name was struck in January 1995. In 1998, she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.

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USS Missouri at sea in her 1980s configuration

Construction
Main articles: Iowa-class battleship and Armament of the Iowa-class battleship
Missouri was one of the Iowa-class "fast battleship" designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. She was laid down at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 6 January 1941, launched on 29 January 1944 and commissioned on 11 June with Captain William Callaghan in command. The ship was the third of the Iowa class, but the fourth and final Iowa-class ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy. The ship was christened at her launching by Mary Margaret Truman, daughter of Harry S. Truman, then a United States Senator from Missouri.

Missouri's main battery consisted of nine 16 in (406 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns, which could fire 2,700 lb (1,200 kg) armor-piercing shells some 20 mi (32.2 km). Her secondary battery consisted of twenty 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal guns in twin turrets, with a range of about 10 mi (16 km). With the advent of air power and the need to gain and maintain air superiority came a need to protect the growing fleet of allied aircraft carriers; to this end, Missouri was fitted with an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns to defend allied carriers from enemy airstrikes. When reactivated in 1984 Missouri had her 20 mm and 40 mm AA guns removed, and was outfitted with Phalanx CIWS mounts for protection against enemy missiles and aircraft, and Armored Box Launchers and Quad Cell Launchers designed to fire Tomahawk missiles and Harpoon missiles, respectively.[6] Missouri and her sister ship Wisconsin were fitted with thicker traverse bulkhead armor, 14.5 inches (368 mm), compared to 11.3 inches (287 mm) in the first two ships of her class, the Iowa and New Jersey.

Missouri was the last U.S. battleship to be completed. Wisconsin, the highest-numbered U.S. battleship built, was completed before Missouri. The last-two Iowa-class battleships, Illinois and Kentucky, were ordered but cancelled, and all five of the twelve-gun Montana-class vessels, BB-67 to BB-71, that were ordered in May 1942, were also cancelled by late July 1943.

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Missouri (left) transfers personnel to Iowa in advance of the surrender ceremony planned for 2 September.

1280px-USS_Missouri_watching_over_USS_Arizona_-_Pearl_Harbor.jpg
Missouri facing the sunken Arizona, symbols of the beginning and the end of WWII for the USA



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Missouri_(BB-63)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa-class_battleship
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
29 January 1945 - While loading a cargo of depth charges in Lunga Roads, off Guadalcanal, USS Serpens (AK-97) is destroyed by a massive explosion. All but two of the 198 Coast Guard crewmen, plus 57 Army stevedores are killed.


USS Serpens (AK-97) was a Crater-class cargo ship commissioned by the US Navy for service in World War II. She was the first ship of the Navy to have this name: she is named after Serpens, a constellation in the northern hemisphere. Serpens was manned by United States Coast Guard personnel and was responsible for delivering troops, goods and equipment to locations in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater.

Serpens_(AK-97).jpg

Construction
Serpens was laid down on 10 March 1943, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 739, as the Liberty ship SS Benjamin N. Cardozo, by California Shipbuilding Corporation, Terminal Island, Los Angeles, California; launched on 5 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. H.P. Needham; transferred to the Navy on 19 April 1943; renamed Serpens and designated AK-97; and commissioned at San Diego on 28 May 1943, Lieutenant Commander Magnus J. Johnson, USCGR, in command.

Service history
Following shakedown off southern California, Serpens loaded general cargo at Alameda and, on 24 June, sailed west to assume provision ship duties in support of operations in the Solomons. By mid-July, she was in the Tonga Islands. At the end of the month, she was en route from New Caledonia to New Zealand; and, by mid-August, she had emptied her holds at Wellington. She then took on more cargo; returned to New Caledonia; and commenced a series of short hauls to Viti Levu, Tutuila, Penrhyn, Bora Bora, Aitutaki, and Tongatapu.

On 9 November, Serpens returned to New Caledonia. In early December, she moved into the southern Solomons; and, after completing a Florida Island-Banika Island run, she stood off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, to load cargo for Bougainville. During January 1944, she completed two runs into Empress Augusta Bay. In February, she was ordered back to New Zealand for dry-docking before loading dry provisions.

For the next four months, Serpens delivered consignments to bases in the New Hebrides and the Solomons, returning to New Zealand to reload only once. In July, she was at Purvis Bay for the installation of SF-1 radar. She then resumed operations and, through October, carried general cargo and rolling stock between ports and anchorages in the Solomons. In mid-November, she loaded repairable vehicles from the Russells and from Guadalcanal and sailed for New Zealand where, after offloading, three of her holds were converted for ammunition stowage.

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Destruction, 29 January 1945
Late in December 1944, the Liberty ship commenced loading at Wellington, finished it at Auckland, and returned to the Solomons in mid-January 1945. Late in the evening on 29 January 1945, Serpens was anchored off Lunga Beach. The commanding officer and seven others, one officer and six enlisted men, were ashore. The remaining crewmen were loading depth charges into her holds when Serpens exploded. After the explosion, only the bow of the ship was visible. The rest had disintegrated, and the bow sank soon afterward. One hundred ninety-six Coast Guard crewmen, 57 Army stevedores, and a Public Health Service physician, Dr. Harry M. Levin, were killed in the explosion, and a soldier ashore was killed by shrapnel. Only two of those on board, Seaman (SN) 1/c Kelsie K. Kemp and SN 1/c George S. Kennedy, who had been in the boatswain's locker, survived.

An eyewitness to the disaster stated: "As we headed our personnel boat shoreward the sound and concussion of the explosion suddenly reached us, and, as we turned, we witnessed the awe-inspiring death drama unfold before us. As the report of screeching shells filled the air and the flash of tracers continued, the water splashed throughout the harbor as the shells hit. We headed our boat in the direction of the smoke and as we came into closer view of what had once been a ship, the water was filled only with floating debris, dead fish, torn life jackets, lumber and other unidentifiable objects. The smell of death, and fire, and gasoline, and oil was evident and nauseating. This was sudden death, and horror, unwanted and unasked for, but complete."

Lieutenant Commander Stinson reported: "I felt and saw two flashes after which only the bow of the ship was visible. The rest had disintegrated and the bow sank soon afterwards." The two survivors, SN 1/c Kemp and SN 1/c Kennedy, according to Stinson, ". . .showed a lot of savvy by grabbing a couple of water lights that we kept stowed in the [boatswain's] locker. They used them to attract attention when they climbed out onto the floating portion of the bow." Both men were injured but were rescued by a base commander in the area.


Memorial to the dead of USS Serpens at Arlington National Cemetery.

At first report the incident was attributed to enemy action but a court of inquiry later determined that the cause of the explosion could not be established from the remaining evidence and by 1949, the Navy noted that the loss was not due to enemy action but due to an "accident intrinsic to the loading process." The loss of Serpens remains the largest single disaster ever suffered by the Coast Guard. The dead were initially buried at the Army, Navy and Marine Corps Cemetery at Guadalcanal. Their remains were later exhumed and taken to Arlington National Cemetery where they were interred on 15 June 1949. A large monument in their honor was erected over the grave site and dedicated on 16 November 1950




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Serpens_(AK-97)
https://www.navsource.org/archives/09/13/130097.htm
http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2018/01/the-long-blue-line-uss-serpens-the-coast-guards-greatest-loss/
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 29 January


1678 – Launch of French Ferme, 40–46 guns, at Toulon – renamed Laurier in June 1678; sold April 1692.

Ferme class, designed by François Chapelle, with 20 x 12-pounder, 20 x 6-pounder and 4 x 4-pounder guns:
Ferme, 40–46 guns, launched 29 January 1678 at Toulon – renamed Laurier in June 1678; sold April 1692.
Arc en Ciel, 40–46 guns, launched 31 March 1678 at Toulon – deleted 1698.


1695 – Capture of French Content 70 (1686) – ex-French captured 29 January 1695, hulk 1703, sold 1715.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_Coulomb_the_Elder


1695 – Capture of French Trident 58 (1695) – ex-French, captured 29 January 1695, scuttled as breakwater 1701.


1703 - HMS Lincoln (48) foundered

HMS Lincoln was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Woolwich Dockyard on 12 September 1695.
Lincoln was lost on 29 January 1703 when she foundered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Lincoln_(1695)


1719 - HMS Crown (48) wrecked off the Tagus

The Taunton was a 40-gun fourth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England at Rotherhithe, and launched in 1654.

After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, her name was changed to HMS Crown. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 48 guns. In 1704, Crown underwent a rebuild at Deptford Dockyard, from where she was relaunched as a fourth-rate ship of the line of between 46 and 54 guns.

Crown was wrecked in 1719.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Crown_(1654)


1755 – Launch of spanish Glorioso (San Francisco Javier) 74 at Ferrol - stricken 5 May 1818 to BU


1781 - Wilmington surrendered to the Blonde (32), Cptn. Andrew Barclay, with HMS Delight (14), HMS Otter (14) and consorts.


1814 HMS Holly Schooner (8), Lt. Samuel Sharpe Treacher, parted her cables in a violent gale and ran onto the rocks under the Mount of San Sebastian and was wrecked.

The schooner was driven ashore and wrecked at San Sebastián, Spain with the loss of seven of her crew


1819 – Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.

Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, FRS (6 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman, Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies (1811–1816) and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen (1818–1824), best known for his founding of Singapore and the British Malaya.

StamfordRaffles.jpeg

He was heavily involved in the conquest of the Indonesian island of Java from Dutch and French military forces during the Napoleonic Wars and contributed to the expansion of the British Empire. He was also an amateur writer and wrote a book, The History of Java (1817).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamford_Raffles


1856 - HM paddle-sloop Polyphemus (5), Cdr. F.P. Warren, wrecked on sandbank near Hansholman Light off coast of Jutland

HMS Polyphemus (1840) was a wooden paddlewheel sloop launched in 1840 and wrecked off Jutland in 1856.


1862 - The storeship USS Supply captures schooner Stephen Hart loaded with a cargo of arms and munitions, south of Sarasota, Fla.,

The first USS Supply was a ship-rigged sailing vessel which served as a stores ship in the United States Navy. She saw service in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War.

USS_Supply_(1846).jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Supply_(1846)


1923 - USS Beukelsdijk (ID-3135) was a turret type transport ship of the United States Navy, wrecked

USS Beukelsdijk (ID-3135) was a transport ship of the United States Navy during World War I, serving from 1918 to 1919.

USS_Beukelsdijk.jpg
USS Beukelsdijk in port, July 1918

A turret deck ship is a type of merchant ship with an unusual hull, designed and built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The hulls of turret deck vessels were rounded and stepped inward above their waterlines. This gave some advantages in strength and allowed them to pay lower canal tolls under tonnage measurement rules then in effect. The type ceased to be built after those rules changed.

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Turret Age (1893) of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the Dry Dock at St. Johns Newfoundland in 1899

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Beukelsdijk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turret_deck_ship


1975 – Jakob Maersk was an oil tanker, that struck a sand bank while entering the port of Leixões, Portugal, causing a huge explosion and subsequent fire that burned for days. The explosion broke the ship apart, spilling crude oil into the water.

Film contains images, that can shock people!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Maersk_oil_spill
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 January 1761 - HMS Venus (32) and HMS Juno (32) took french La Brune (32), to the westward of Scilly


Brune was a Blonde class 30-gun frigate of the French Navy. She took part in the naval battles of the Seven Year War, and was captured by the British. Recommissioned in the Royal Navy as the 32-gun HMS Brune, she served until 1792.

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HMS Brune captures French Ship L'oiseau. October 1762. Seven Years War

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Career
Brune was ordered in January 1753, and named on 7 January 1753. In 1757, she served in a squadron under Rear-admiral Beaufremont to ferry troops to Saint-Domingue.

She served as a coast-guard until August 1758, when she was decommissioned.
On 18 March, she was recommissioned in Brest. On 30 January 1762, she was captured by the frigates HMS Venus and HMS Juno, after a two-hour fight.
Recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Brune, she captured the French frigate Oiseau on 23 October 1762.
In 1780, she captured a French ship Renard

She was sold on 2 October 1792.

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lines & profile Signed by Thomas Bucknall [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, 1755-1762]. NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 648, states that 'Brune' was surveyed and fitted at Plymouth Dockyard between March and October 1761.

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deck Initialled by Israel Pownell [Master Shipwright, Chatham Dockyard, 1775-1779]. NMM, Progress Book, volume 5, folio 235, states that 'Brune' was fitted at Chatham Dockyard between 9 December 1775 and 17 March 1776.

Blonde class, (32-gun design by Jean-Joseph Ginoux, with 26 x 8-pounder and 6 x 4-pounder guns).
  • Blonde, (launched 23 August 1755 at Le Havre) – captured by British Navy 28 February 1760, becoming HMS Blonde.
  • Brune, (launched 7 September 1755 at Le Havre) – captured by British Navy 30 January 1761, becoming HMS Brune.
  • Aigrette, (launched 1756 at Le Havre) – condemned at Brest 1789.
  • Vestale, (launched March 1756 at Le Havre) – captured by British Navy 8 January 1761, becoming HMS Flora, scuttled at Rhode Island to prevent capture by the Americans in 1778, an attempt to burn her failed and so she was refloated by the US; after the War of Independence she was either presented to or repurchased by the French in 1784, renamed Flore Americaine, fitted as a privateer in 1793, taken by HMS Phaeton (1782) in 1798, not recommissioned.
  • Félicité, (launched 1756 at Le Havre) – captured and burnt by British Navy 24 January 1761.


HMS Venus (renamed HMS Heroine in 1809) was the name ship of the 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1758 and served for more than half a century until 1809. She was reduced from 36 guns to 32 guns in 1792. She was sold in 1822.

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Action between HMS Venus (left) and French frigate La Sémillante, 27 May 1793.

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The Venus-class frigates were three 36-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1756 by Sir Thomas Slade, and were enlarged from his design for the 32-gun Southampton-class frigates, which had been approved four months earlier.

The 36-gun frigates, of which this was to be the only British design in the era of the 12-pounder frigate, carried the same battery of twenty-six 12-pounders as the 32-gun predecessors; the only difference lay in the secondary armament on the quarter deck, which was here doubled to eight 6-pounders. Slade's 36-gun design was approved on 13 July 1756, on which date two ships were approved to be built by contract to these plans. A third ship was ordered about two weeks later, to be built in a royal dockyard.

The Venus-class were faster than their Southampton-class predecessors, making up to 13 knots ahead of strong winds and ten knots while close-hauledcompared with Southampton-class speeds of 12 and 8 knots respectively. Both Venus- and Southampton-class frigates were highly maneuverable and capable of withstanding heavy weather, in comparison with their French counterparts during the Seven Years' War.

Venus class 36-gun fifth rates 1757-58; designed by Thomas Slade.
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Lines & Profile (ZAZ2625) of sistership HMS Brilliant


HMS Juno was a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served throughout the American Revolutionary War until scuttled in 1778 to avoid capture.

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Richmond class 32-gun fifth rates 1757-58 (batch 1), 1762-63 (batch 2); designed by William Bately.

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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of a ‘Richmond’-class 32-gun frigate (circa 1757), built in the Georgian style. The model is decked. Taken from the model, the vessel measured 129 feet along the gun deck by 34 feet in the beam, displacing 660 tons burden. It was armed with twenty-six 12-pounders on the upper deck, four 6-pounders on the quarterdeck and two 6-pounders on the forecastle. This type of vessel, an early ‘true frigate’, is similar to SLR0496. Although not identified with a particular ship, the dimensions represented are very close to those of the ‘Tweed’ (1759), but that ship probably had a round bow. A noticeable feature is the new style of figurehead. The familiar lion, which had been the standard form of bow decoration for smaller warships since about 1600, began to disappear after about 1750. It was commonly replaced by a human figure in classical dress. Frigates were fifth- or sixth-rate ships and so not expected to lie in the line of battle. With the advantage of superior sailing qualities over the larger ships of the line, they were used with the fleet for such tasks as lookout or, in battle, as repeating ships to fly the admiral’s signals. They also cruised independently in search of privateers.

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Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the longitudinal half-breadth for the upper deck and lower deck, full plan for the platforms for 'Juno' (1757), a 32-gun Fifth Rate Frigate.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Venus_(1758)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-297835;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=B
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Juno_(1757)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Richmond_1757
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Brune_(1756)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-298384;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=B
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=11118
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 January 1794 - HMS Amphitrite (24), Cptn. Anthony Hunt, wrecked after striking an uncharted submerged rock whilst on passage between Elba and Livorno.


HMS Amphitrite was a 24-gun Porcupine-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the American Revolution primarily in the economic war. On the one hand she protected the trade by capturing or assisting at the capture of a number of privateers, some of which the Royal Navy then took into service. On the other hand, she also captured many American merchant vessels, most of them small. Unfortunately, Amphrite was wrecked early in 1794.

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Construction and commissioning
Amphitrite was ordered on 8 January 1777 from Deptford Dockyard, and laid down there on 2 July 1777. She was built under the supervision of Master Shipwright Adam Hayes, and was launched on 28 May 1778. She was commissioned into navy service on 22 July 1778, having cost a total of £12,737.6.6d to build, including the cost of fitting out and coppering.

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Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth for Pelican (1777). Annotated with Isaac Rogers (bottom right). From Tyne & Wear Archives Service, Blandford House, Blandford Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4JA.

Career
She was commissioned in May 1778 under the command of Captain Thomas Gaborian. She initially operated as part of the squadron off the Downs. There she captured the French privateer Agneau on 15 August. Amphitrite shared with the sloop Fairy, and the cutters Griffin, Flying Fish, Sprightly, and Wells, in the capture on 24 May of the French privateers Dunkerque and Prince de Robcq, which had "eight ransomers" aboard. Then on 6 July Amphitrite and the cutter Rambler captured the shallop Samuel and Elizabeth.

In 1780 Amphitrite passed under the command of Captain Robert Biggs. She was among the vessels sharing in the proceeds of the capture in January 1780 of the brig Kitty and the ship Jolly Tar. Biggs sailed Amphitrite to North America in May that year. On her arrival she joined Graves's squadron.

In June 1781 Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot sent Amphitrite and several other vessels to attempt to intercept some French reinforcements from entering Boston.

On 30 June Amphitrite captured the brig Adventure. One month later, on 30 July, Medea, Amphitrite, and the armed ship General Monk shared in the capture of the schooner Neptune. The squadron that Arbuthnot sent to Boston recaptured the HMS Atalanta on 7 July.

On 7 September 1781 Medea captured the Belisarius, "a fast sailing frigate of 26 guns and 147 men, belonging to Salem". Medea captured her off the Delaware River. Amphitrite and Savage shared in the capture. The Royal Navy took her into service as the sixth rate Belisarius, but then sold her in 1783, after the end of the war.

On 10 September Admiral Graves received two letters from Biggs dated 10 September, at Boston. Biggs mentioned that together with the armed ship General Monk, Amphitrite had captured four prizes. Then on 4 September she had encountered a French ship of the line and a frigate off Cape Ann, but had escaped them. Lastly, Biggs reported that on 2 September Chatham had captured with Magicienneon 2 September off Cape Ann. Biggs reported that the French lost 60 men killed and 40 wounded; the British lost one man killed and one man wounded.

Between 20 August and 31 October Amphitrite made a number of captures:
  • Experiment, privateer of 300 tons, 20 men and 22 guns;
  • Endeavour, of 70 tons, eight men, carrying beef, port, etc.;
  • Union, of 100 tons, nine men, carrying beef, port, etc.;
  • St. John, of 90 90 tons, 10 men, carrying plank;
  • Minerva, of 95 tons, 10 men, carrying tobacco;
  • Dolphin of 100 tons, 11 men, carrying plank;
  • Nero, carrying tobacco; and lastly,
  • Revenge privateer, of 40 tons, 30 men, and eight guns.
Amphitrite may have come under the command of Captain Robert George temporarily in November 1781.

Between 11 November and 23 March 1782, Amphitrite took three vessels: the schooner Betsey (12 January), and the brigs Sally (13 February) and Peggy (20 February). Amphitrite and Amphion then took the privateer Franklin on 3 April off the Chesapeake. She was in ballast. Five days later the same two captured the brig Gale, off Cape Henry. She was taking coffee to Amsterdam. Then on the 14th, they took the brig Patty, also off Cape Henry. She was carrying flour to Havana. That same day they took the brig Nymphe, also off Cape Henry, and also carrying flour to Havana.

On 2 May Amphitrite and Amphion were off Match Springs when they captured three vessels on their way to Philadelphia. Fair American and the brig Adriana were carrying rum and dry goods. The sloop Alpin was carrying sugar and coffee. Hornet and the privateer Digby shared in the capture of the Adriana and the Alpin.

Observer, a sloop of 10 guns, was the Massachusetts privateer Amsterdam, which Amphitrite captured on 19 October. The British took Observer into the Royal Navy and sold her on 21 October 1784.

On 12 November, Amphitrite captured the brig Adventure, the schooner Salisbury, the ship Rattlesnake, and the sloop Phoenix. On 5 December she captured the ship Bellisarius, brig Marianne, and schooner Neptune.

Amphitrite continued to take prizes in 1782:
  • Betsey (4 March);
  • Peggy 22 April;
  • Nymphe (5 October);
  • Franklin (25 June);
  • ship Enterprise recaptured (3 September); and lastly,
  • Vigilante (20 December).
Amphitrite, Fowey, Hope, and Thames captured the sloop Lark. Amphitrite alone captured the ship Salem Packet, the brigs Amsterdam, Dolphin, and Minerva, and the sloops Dove and Fox.

American records show that in late January 1783, Amphitrite, Captain Robert George, captured the former Massachusetts privateer and now letter of marque Apollo. She sent Apollo into New York where she was condemned and sold in March.

Between the wars
After the end of the American War of Independence Amphitrite returned to Britain and was paid off in January 1784. She underwent a small repair between 1783 and 1784, followed by a larger one between 1790 and 1793, after which she was fitted out at Woolwich.

French Revolutionary Wars
Amphitritie was recommissioned in April 1793 with the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, under Captain John Child Purvis. On 23 July 1793 she arrived at Portsmouth from Lymington under the command of Captain Bowyer.New Forest Military Archive She came under the command of Captain James Dickinson in April 1794, and then Captain Anthony Hunt the following month. Hunt sailed her to the Mediterranean where she was on the Toulon station with Vice Admiral Hood.

Fate
On 30 January 1794 Amphitrite was wrecked after striking an uncharted submerged shoal whilst entering Leghorn harbour. Efforts were made to save her, but they were futile and she was abandoned as a wreck. A court martial on 3 February acquitted Hunt of blame.


The Porcupine-class sailing sixth rates were a series of ten 24-gun post ships built to a 1776 design by John Williams, that served in the Royal Navyduring the American War Of Independence. Some survived to serve again in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars. The first two were launched in 1777. Three were launched in 1778, three more in 1779, and the last two in 1781.

Design
John Williams, the Surveyor of the Navy, designed the class as a development of his 1773 design for the 20-gun Sphinx class. The 1776 design enlarged the ship, which permitted the mounting of an eleventh pair of 9-pounder guns on the upper deck and two smaller (6-pounder) guns on the quarterdeck.

Ships in class
The Admiralty ordered ten ships to this design over a period of two years. The contract for the first ship was agreed on 25 June 1776 with Greaves, for launching in July 1777; the second was agreed with Adams on 6 August 1776, for launching in May 1777. The contract price for each was £10½ per ton BM; they were named Porcupine and Pelican by Admiralty Order on 27 August 1776. The contract price for Penelope was £11½ per ton BM.

Porcupine class 24 guns, 1777–81; designed by John Wiliams.
  • HMS Porcupine 1777 - broken up 1805.
  • HMS Pelican 1776 - wrecked in a hurricane near Jamaica 1781.
  • HMS Eurydice 1781 - hulked as receiving ship 1814, broken up 1834.
  • HMS Hyena 1778 - captured by the French 1793, retaken 1797, reclassed as 20-gun ship 1798, sold 1802.
  • HMS Penelope 1778 - cast away or foundered in the West Indies in November 1779.
  • HMS Amphitrite 1778 - wrecked off Livorno 1794.
  • HMS Crocodile 1781 - wrecked on the Scilly Rocks off Prawle Point 1784.
  • HMS Siren 1779 - wrecked near Beachy Head 1781.
  • HMS Pandora 1779 - wrecked off the Coast of Queensland, Australia, in 1791 while carrying the surviving mutineers of HMS Bounty back to England for trial.
  • HMS Champion 1779 - hulked as receiving ship 1809, sold 1816.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Amphitrite_(1778)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupine-class_post_ship
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 January 1808 - HMS Delight (1806 - 16) captured by the French at Reggio, and burnt to avoid capture


HMS Delight was a British Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in June 1806, six months late. She grounded off Reggio Calabriain January 1808 and was burnt to prevent her being salvaged.

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Career
Commander Phillip Handfield commissioned Delight in July 1806. He then sailed her for the Mediterranean in November.

In February 1807, Delight was part of the Rear Division, commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, at Admiral Duckworth's Dardanelles Operation, which was the Royal Navy's unsuccessful attempt to impose British demands on the Ottoman Empire as part of the Anglo-Turkish War (1807-1809).

On 6 April 1807 Delight brought to Vice Admiral Lord Collingwood at Cadiz the news of the capitulation of Alexandria to British forces on 28 March.

Fate
Delight was with a British squadron at Palermo when news arrived that the French had captured four Sicilian gunboats and taken them to Reggio di Calabria. Delight and HMS Glatton sailed to attempt to recapture the boats, and more importantly their guns, to prevent the French from using them against the British forces at Scylla (Scilla, Calabria). While attempting to prepare for action at the port, Delight grounded. Captain Thomas Secombe came over from Glatton to assist in the attempt to free Delight. Delight came under heavy fire from the shore, which she returned, but during the exchange French fire killed Handfield and seriously wounded Secombe. Eventually the decision was made to abandon Delight and the crew took to the boats. However, the French arrived before everyone could escape, and they captured a number of men, including Secombe. The French permitted Secombe to come to Messina on parole, but he died on 3 February from his wounds.

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Seagull (1805); Nightingale (1805); Oberon (1805); Imogen (1805); Savage (1805); Electra (1806); Paulina (1805); Delight (1806); Satellite (1806); Sheldrake (1806); Skylark (1806); Orestes (1805); Julia (1806) Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with midship framing and scroll figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Seagull (1805), Nightingale (1805), Oberon (1805), Imogen (1805), Savage (1805), Electra (1806), Paulina (1805), Delight (1806), Satellite (1806), Sheldrake (1806), Skylark (1806), Orestes (1805) and Julia (1806), all 14 (later 16) gun Brigs. Signed by John Henslow [Surveyor of the Navy, 1784-1806] and William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813]. SEAGULL 1806

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The Seagull class were built as a class of thirteen 16-gun brig-sloops for the Royal Navy, although an extra 2 carronades were added soon after completion. The class was designed by one of the Surveyors of the Navy - Sir William Rule - and approved on 4 January 1805. Five vessels to this design were ordered in December 1804; eight more were ordered in the summer.

Armament
Unlike the larger Cruiser-class brig-sloops, whose main battery was composed of 32-pounder carronades, the Seagull class (and the similar Fly-class brig-sloops designed by Rule's co-surveyor - Sir John Henslow) were armed with a main battery of 24-pounder slide-mounted carronades.

Ships
Name - Launched - Fate
Seagull - 1 July 1805 - Captured 1808; decommissioned from Norwegian navy 1817
Oberon - 13 August 1805 - Broken up May 1816
Imogen11 July 1805 - Sold for breaking on 3 April 1817
Nightingale - 29 July 1805 - Sold for breaking 23 November 1815
Savage - 30 July 1805 - Sold for breaking 6 March 1819
Skylark - February 1806 - Grounded 3 May 1812 west of Boulogne; burnt to avoid capture.
Paulina - 7 December 1805 - Sold for breaking 30 May 1816
Delight - June 1806 - Captured 31 January 1808 while stranded on the coast of Calabria.
Orestes - 23 October 1805 - Sold for breaking 6 March 1817
Electra - 21 January 1806 - Wrecked 1808; salved but broken up later that year at Malta
Julia - 4 February 1806 - Wrecked at Tristan de Cunha 2 October 1817
Satellite - March 1806 - Foundered 19/20 December 1810
Sheldrake - 21 March 1806 - Sold for breaking 6 March 1816



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Delight_(1806)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagull-class_brig-sloop
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=seagull_1805
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=3858
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 January 1809 - Start of Sir A. Cochrane's campaign to capture Martinique.


The invasion of Martinique of 1809 was a successful British amphibious operation against the French West Indian island of Martinique that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the West Indies Campaign 1804–1810 of the Napoleonic Wars. Martinique, like nearby Guadeloupe, was a major threat to British trade in the Caribbean, providing a sheltered base from which privateers and French Navy warships could raid British shipping and disrupt the trade routes that maintained the British economy. The islands also provided a focus for larger scale French operations in the region and in the autumn of 1808, following the Spanish alliance with Britain, the Admiralty decided to order a British squadron to neutralise the threat, beginning with Martinique.

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'The Taking of the French Island of Martinique in the French West Indies on Feby 24th 1809'.

The British mustered an overwhelming force under Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and Lieutenant-General George Beckwith, who collected 29 ships and 10,000 men – almost four times the number of French regular forces garrisoning Martinique. Landing in force on both the southern and northern coasts of the island, British troops pushed inland, defeating French regulars in the central highlands and routing local militia units in the south of the island. By 9 February, the entire island was in British hands except Fort Desaix, a powerful position intended to protect the capital Fort-de-France, which had been bypassed during the British advance. In a siege lasting 15 days the Fort was constantly bombarded, the French suffering 200 casualties before finally surrendering.

The capture of the island was a significant blow to French power in the region, eliminating an important naval base and denying safe harbours to French shipping in the region. The consequences of losing Martinique were so severe, that the French Navy sent a battle squadron to reinforce the garrison during the invasion. Arriving much too late to affect the outcome, these reinforcements were intercepted off the islands and scattered during the Action of 14–17 April 1809: half the force failed to return to France. With Martinique defeated, British attention in the region turned against Guadeloupe, which was captured the following year.

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Background
During the Napoleonic Wars, the British Royal Navy was charged with limiting the passage and operations of the French Navy, French merchant ships and French privateers. To achieve this objective, the Royal Navy imposed a system of blockades on French ports, especially the major naval bases at Toulon and Brest. This stranglehold on French movement off their own coastline seriously affected the French colonies, including those in the West Indies, as their produce could not reach France and supplies and reinforcements could not reach them without the risk of British interception and seizure. These islands provided excellent bases for French ships to raid the British trade routes through the Caribbean Sea: in previous conflicts, the British had countered the threat posed by French West Indian colonies by seizing them through force, such as Martinique, which had been previously captured by armed invasion in 1762 and 1794. An attempt in 1780 was defeated by a French battle squadron at the Battle of Martinique. By 1808 there were no French squadrons at sea: any that left port were eliminated or driven back in a series of battles, culminating at the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The fleet that was destroyed at Trafalgar had visited Martinique the year before and was the last full scale French fleet to visit the Caribbean for the rest of the war.


Map of Martinique - the invasion forces landed on the southern, southwestern and northern coasts

With the bulk of the French Navy confined to port, the British were able to strike directly at French colonies, although their reach was limited by the significant resources required in blockading the French coast and so the size and quality of operations varied widely. In 1804, Haiti fell to a nationalist uprising supported by the Royal Navy, and in 1806 British forces secured most of the northern coast of South America from its Dutch owners. In 1807 the Danish West Indies were invaded and in 1808 Spain changed sides and allied with Britain, while Cayenne fell to an improvised force under Captain James Lucas Yeo in January 1809. The damage done to the Martinique economy during this period was severe, as British frigates raided coastal towns and shipping, and merchant vessels were prevented from trading Martinique's produce with France or allied islands. Disaffection grew on the island, especially among the recently emancipated black majority, and during the summer of 1808 the island's governor, Vice-amiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse, sent urgent messages back to France requesting supplies and reinforcements. Some of these messages were intercepted by British ships and the low morale on Martinique was brought to the attention of the Admiralty, who ordered their commander on the West Indian Station, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, to raise an expeditionary force from the ships and garrisons available to him and invade the island.

During the winter of 1808–1809, Cochrane gathered his forces off Carlisle Bay, Barbados, accumulating 29 ships and 10,000 soldiers under the command of Lieutenant-General George Beckwith. Landings were planned on the island's southern and northern coasts, with the forces ordered to converge on the capital Fort-de-France. The soldiers would be supported and supplied by the Royal Navy force, which would shadow their advance offshore. Beckwith's army was more than twice the size of the French garrison, half of which was composed of an untrained and irregular black militia which could not be relied on in combat. News of the poor state of Martinique's defences also reached France during the autumn of 1808. Attempts were made to despatch reinforcements and urgently needed food supplies, but on 30 October 1808 Circe captured the 16-gun French Curieux class brig Palinure. The British then captured the frigate Thétis in the Bay of Biscay at the Action of 10 November 1808. Another relief attempt was destroyed in December off the Leeward Islands and HMS Aimable captured the corvette Iris, carrying flour to Martinique, off the Dutch coast on 2 January 1809. Only the frigate Amphitrite, whose stores and reinforcements were insignificant compared to the forces under Cochrane and Beckwith, managed to reach Martinique.

Invasion

Sir George Prévost with sword from Nova Scotia House of Assembly to commemorate his victory at Martinique, The Halifax Club, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Cochrane's fleet sailed from Carlisle Bay on 28 January, arriving off Martinique early on 30 January. The force was then divided, one squadron anchoring off Sainte-Luce on the southern coast and another off Le Robert on the northern. The invasion began the same morning, 3,000 soldiers going ashore at Sainte-Luce under the command of Major-General Frederick Maitland, supervised by Captain William Charles Fahie, while 6,500 landed at Le Robert under Major-General Sir George Prevost, supervised by Captain Philip Beaver. Beckwith remained on Cochrane's flagship HMS Neptune, to direct the campaign from offshore. A third force, under a Major Henderson and consisting entirely of 600 soldiers from the Royal York Rangers, landed at Cape Salomon near Les Anses-d'Arlet on the southwestern peninsula to secure the entrance to Fort-de-France Bay.

During the first day of the invasion, the two main forces made rapid progress inland, the militia troops sent against them retreating and deserting without offering resistance. Serious opposition to the British advance did not begin until 1 February, when French defenders on the heights of Desfourneaux and Surirey were attacked by Prevost's troops, under the direct command of Brigadier-General Daniel Hoghton. Fighting was fierce throughout the next two days, as the outnumbered French used the fortified high ground to hold back a series of frontal assaults. The British lost 84 killed and 334 wounded to French losses of over 700 casualties, and by 3 February the French had been forced back, withdrawing to Fort Desaix near the capital. Progress was also made at Cape Salomon, where the appearance of British troops panicked the French defenders into burning the naval brig Carnation and retreating to the small island, Ilot aux Ramiers, offshore. Henderson's men, assisted by a naval brigade under Captain George Cockburn, set up batteries on the coast and by 4 February had bombarded the island into surrender, opening the principal harbour of Martinique to naval attack.

A small naval squadron, consisting of HMS Aeolus, HMS Cleopatra and the brig HMS Recruit, advanced into Fort-de-France Bay on 5 February. This advance spread panic among the French militia defending the bay and Amphitrite and the other shipping anchored there were set on fire and destroyed, while the forts in the southern part of the island were abandoned. On 8 February, Maitland's force, which had not yet fired a shot, arrived on the western side of Fort Desaix and laid siege to it. Minor detachments spread across the remainder of the island: Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Barnes captured Saint-Pierre and another force occupied Fort-de-France and seized the corvette Diligente in the harbour. By 10 February, when Prevost's force linked up with Maitland's, Fort Desaix was the only remaining point of resistance.

For nine days, the British soldiers and sailors of the expeditionary force constructed gun batteries and trenches around the fort, bringing ashore large quantities of supplies and equipment in readiness for a lengthy siege. At 16:30 on 19 February the preparations were complete and the bombardment began, 14 heavy cannon and 28 mortars beginning a continuous attack on the fort which lasted for the next four days. French casualties in the overcrowded fort were severe, with 200 men killed or wounded. British casualties were minimal, with five killed and 11 wounded, principally in an explosion in an ammunition tent manned by sailors from HMS Amaranthe. At 12:00 on 23 February, Villaret de Joyeuse's trumpeter was sent to the British camp with a message proposing surrender terms. These were unacceptable to Beckwith and the bombardment resumed at 22:00, continuing until 09:00 the following morning when three white flags were raised over the fort and the French admiral surrendered unconditionally. The bombardment had cracked the roof of the fort's magazine, and there were fears that further shelling might have ignited the gunpowder and destroyed the building completely.

Aftermath
With the surrender of Fort Desaix, British forces solidified their occupation of the island of Martinique. The remaining shipping and military supplies were seized and the regular soldiers of the garrison taken as prisoners of war. The militia were disbanded and Martinique became a British colony, remaining under British command until the restoration of the French monarchy in 1814, when it was returned to French control. British losses in the campaign were heavy, with 97 killed, 365 wounded and 18 missing. French total losses are uncertain but the garrison suffered at least 900 casualties, principally in the fighting in the central highlands on 1 and 2 February and during the siege of Fort Desaix. Upon his return to France, Villaret's conduct was condemned by an inquiry council; he requested in vain a Court-martial to clear his name, and lived in disgrace for two years.

In Britain, both Houses of Parliament voted their thanks to Cochrane and Beckwith, who immediately began planning the invasion of Guadeloupe, executed in January 1810. Financial and professional rewards were provided for the junior officers and enlisted men and in 1816 the battle honour Martinique was awarded to the ships and regiments involved, with the date 1809 added in 1909 to distinguish the campaign from the earlier operations of 1762 and 1794. Four decades later the operation was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal and the Military General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847. In France, the defeat was the subject of a court martial in December 1809, at which Villaret de Joyeuse and a number of his subordinates were stripped of their commissions, honours, and ranks for inadequately preparing for invasion, in particular for failing properly to strengthen and disperse the magazine at Fort Desaix.

There was a subsequent French effort to reach Martinique, launched in February 1809 before news of the British invasion had reached Europe. Three ships of the line and two disarmed frigates were sent with soldiers and supplies towards the island, but learned of Villaret de Joyeuse's surrender in late March and instead took shelter in the Îles des Saintes, blockaded by Cochrane's squadron. On 14 April, Cochrane seized the Saintes and the French fled, the three ships of the line drawing away Cochrane's forces so that the frigates could slip away and reach Guadeloupe. During the ensuing Action of 14–17 April 1809, the French flagship Hautpoult was chased down and captured, but two ships of the line escaped and the frigates reached Guadeloupe, although neither would ever return to France.

British order of battle

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In addition, the invasion fleet included 21 smaller warships and a number of transports. The British Army troops attached to the force included soldiers from the 7th Foot, 8th Foot, 23rd Foot, 13th Foot, 90th Foot, 15th Foot, 60th Rifles, 63rd Foot, 25th Foot, 1st West India Regiment and the Royal York Rangers. The expeditionary force was commanded by Lieutenant-General George Beckwith who remained offshore. Direct command of the land campaign was given to Major-General Frederick Maitland and Major-General Sir George Prevost, who delegated tactical command to Brigadier-General Daniel Hoghton.
Sources: James Vol. 5, p. 206, Clowes, p. 283, Gardiner, p. 77, Rodger, p. 36



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Martinique_(1809)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Cochrane
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 January 1809 – Ballahoo-class cutter HMS Haddock (4), Ch. Win. Selwyn, captured by the French brig Le Genie (16) in the Channel.


HMS Haddock was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1805.

“On Thursday 21st inst launched off the stocks at Mr Isaac Skinner's shipyard his Majesty's Schooner "Haddock". The above schooner is said (by every merchant and shipbuilder) to be the completest vessel ever built in Bermuda”— The Royal Gazette, 30 March 1805

Haddock only sailed for some three to four years before the French captured her in 1809 in the English Channel. This schooner was the only Royal Navy ship ever to use the name.

large (10).jpg
Scale: 1:48. A plan showing body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth of 'Haddock' (1805), a four to six gun schooner, as taken off in October 1805 and modified on her refit. This plan was used for the subsequent Cuckoo class of gun schooners (1805) consisting of 'Magpie' (1806), 'Jackdaw' (1806), 'Cuckoo' (1806), 'Wagtail' (1806), 'Woodcock' (1806), 'Wigeon' (1806), 'Sealark' (1806), 'Rook' (1806), 'Landrail' (1806), 'Pigeon' (1806), 'Crane' (1806), 'Quail' (1806).

Service
She was commissioned in April 1805 under Lieutenant John Buddle. Between 9 October and 15 November she was in Portsmouth, refitting. At this time the Admiralty had her lines taken. She would then act as the model for the subsequent Cuckoo-class schooners.

Haddock sailed for Jamaica on 11 December. In 1806 she was under Lieutenant Edward Foley. On 22 May she captured Arrogante, for which head money for 19 men was paid in March 1828. In 1808 Lieutenant Charles William Selwyn took command.

On 6 September, the American vessel Nancy, Ringhaven, master, arrived at Jamaica. She had been sailing from Havana to Jamaica when Haddock detained her and sent her in.

Fate
On 30 January 1809 the 18-gun square-rigged brig Génie captured Haddock, which was under the command of Lieutenant Henry Edwards.

Haddock was on her way from Jamaica with dispatches, when at 1:30pm she sighted a brig that began to give chase. In her attempt to escape, Haddock threw her guns, shot and stores overboard. Still, the brig gained. Haddock surrendered at 8:30pm, having first thrown her signals and dispatches overboard.

The encounter occurred in the Atlantic, or the Channel. Lloyd's List gives the approximate location as 48°56′N 16°0′W, which would put the capture in the Atlantic. Génie was an Abeille-class naval brig, built at Dunkerque and launched 23 July 1808. Her armament consisted of eighteen 24-pounder carronades, and she was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Degrave.

On 16 November Génie captured two more vessels. One was Lusitania, Carmen, master, which had been sailing from Grenada to London. The second was Fortune, of Bristol, Hare, master, which had been sailing from St Croix to London. The Frenchmen plundered Lusitania and then put the captured crews on board her. Next the Frenchmen sank Fortune and Haddock and let Lusitania depart. Lusitania arrived at Portsmouth on 25 November.

large (12).jpg
Scale: 1:48. A plan showing upper deck, and hold and platforms for 'Haddock' (1805), a four to six gun schooner, as fitted at Portsmouth in October 1805. This plan was used for the subsequent Cuckoo class of gun schooners (1805), consisting of 'Magpie' (1806), 'Jackdaw' (1806), 'Cuckoo' (1806), 'Wagtail' (1806), 'Woodcock' (1806), 'Wigeon' (1806), 'Sealark' (1806), 'Rook' (1806), 'Landrail' (1806), 'Pigeon' (1806), 'Crane' (1806), 'Quail' (1806). Initialled by Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Portsmouth, 1803-1823]

The Ballahoo class (also known as the Fish class) was a Royal Navy class of eighteen 4-gun schooners built under contract in Bermuda during the Napoleonic War. The class was an attempt by the Admiralty to harness the expertise of Bermudian shipbuilders who were renowned for their fast-sailing craft (particularly the Bermuda sloops). The Admiralty ordered twelve vessels on 23 June 1804, and a further six on 11 December 1805.

Construction
A number of different builders in different yards built them, with all the first batch launching in 1804 and 1805. The second batch were all launched in 1807. Goodrich & Co acted as the main contractor to the Navy Board, and in many cases the actual builder is unrecorded. They were all constructed of Bermuda cedar.

This durable, native wood, abundant in Bermuda, was strong and light, and did not need seasoning. Shipbuilders used it for framing as well as planking, which reduced vessel weight. It was also highly resistant to rot and marine borers, giving Bermudian vessels a potential lifespan of twenty years and more, even in the worm-infested waters of the Chesapeake and the Caribbean.

large (11).jpg
Scale: 1:48. A plan showing the list of scantling with a midship section for 'Haddock' (1805), a four to six gun schooner. Also has a letter attached to the plan dated 27 December 1805 from Portsmouth Dockyard. The letter to the Navy Board relates to how the schooner was secured. Signed by Nicholas Diddams [Master Shipwright, Portsmouth Dockyard, 1803-1823], Henry Canham [Assistant to Master Shipwright, 1801-1813], and John Haynes [Assistant to Master Shipwright, 1801-1804?].

The manufacturer Jotika / Caldercraft is producing a very good model kit of a Ballahoo-class schooner in scale 1:64

Ballahoo_Lrg.jpg

http://www.jotika-ltd.com/Pages/1024768/Nelson_9.htm



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Haddock_(1805)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballahoo-class_schooner
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-317225;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=H
https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=4580
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 January 1831 – Launch of HMS Saracen, a Cherokee-class brig-sloop


HMS Saracen was a Cherokee-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. Launched 30 January 1831 at the Plymouth Dockyard, at Plymouth, England, this vessel held a gun deck of eight 18-Pounder carronades and two 6-Pounder bow chasers. She also held a crew complement of 75. Henry Worsley Hill served as her commander starting on 15 March 1841.

Saracen was part of the West Africa Squadron, involved in anti-slavery operations against the Atlantic slave trade from west Africa to the Americas.
A list of captures of slave trade ships include:
  • 15 June 1839 The slaver Golupohick, under charge of Lieutenant Rowlett, and another slaver ship, one of which had 290 slaves on board, the other empty. Both were condemned.
  • 31 March 1839 While patrolling the Rio Pongas, the Portuguese slave schooner Lavradora / Labradora, with 245 slaves on board, was sentenced to be condemned.
  • 16 October 1839 Detained off Gallinas River, the Portuguese slave schooner Brilhante, was sentenced to be condemned.
  • 1 March 1840 The slave schooner Sénégambie was detained and has been condemned by the Vice Admiralty Court, however she is reported to be unfit for H.M. service and was therefore unsuitable as a replacement ship.
  • 21 July 1840 Detained off the Gallinas River, the Spanish slave brigantine Diana, which may also have been known as Anna, was condemned on 8 September 1840.
  • 17 August 1840 Detained off the Gallinas River, the Spanish slave vessel Sirena, was condemned on 8 September 1840.
  • October 1840 120 seamen and marines from the Wanderer and Saracen entered the village of Dombocorro with a view to obtaining, by treaty, the release of the slaves held by slavers in the district, under the control of Chief Siacca, and the burning of all eight slave factories.
  • 9 December 1840 Detained off Seabar, River Sherbro, the Spanish slave schooner Boa Uniao, was condemned on 1 February 1841.
  • 11 December 1840 Detained off Seabar, River Sherbro, the Spanish slave schooner San Paolo de Loando, was condemned on 1 February 1841.
  • 19 January 1841 Detained off Seabar, River Sherbro the United States slave schooner Urraca, was condemned on 23 February 1841.
  • 7 February 1841 Detained in the slave vessel Augusta, was condemned on 31 March 1841.
  • 22 February 1841 Detained after a brief resistance off Sea Bar, Sherbro Island the Spanish slave brig Republicano, was condemned on 6 April 1841.
  • 24 February 1841, Lieutenant Henry Worsley Hill, at anchor off Sea Bar, had been advised by a "Krooman" named Sea Breeze that he had been beaten, put in irons, and confined in a barracoon. Two barracoons, capable of containing 500 Africans, indicated an extensive slave trading establishment. Slaves, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity of going to Sierra Leone, brought with them a canoe from a nearby creek, containing women and children, making a total of 51 persons. They set fire to the barracoon, and requested Lieutenant Hill protect them.
  • 19 April 1841 The slaver Goluptchick, was captured again on the coast of Africa, this time under the name of Augusta.
The Saracen was later remembered in a postage stamp from Ascension Island

large (13).jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile, upper deck, and lower deck for Zephyr (1823) and Tyrian (1826), 10 gun Brig/Brig Sloops, completed as Packets. According to the annotations dated 14 July to 29 August 1823, copies of this plan were also sent for the rest of the Cadmus/Cherokee/Rolla class ordered in 1823 to be built in the Royal Dockyards (originally about 44 vessels).


The Cherokee class was a class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy, mounting 10 guns. Brig-sloops are sloops-of-war with two masts (a fore mast and a taller main mast) rather than the three masts of ship sloops. Orders for 115 vessels were placed, including 5 which were cancelled and 6 for which the orders were replaced by ones for equivalent steam-powered paddle vessels.

Many of these sailing vessels served as mail packet ships, and more than eight assisted with exploration and surveys. The best known of the class was HMS Beagle, then considerably modified for Beagle's second survey voyage under Robert FitzRoy, with the gentleman naturalist Charles Darwin on board as a self-funded supernumerary.

Design
The carronade, nicknamed the "smasher" or "devil gun", was significantly smaller and lighter than conventional cannon. It was also found to have a more destructive broadside at close range, so that a smaller (and cheaper) ship could be more effective in naval actions than a much larger man-of-war. Sir Henry Peake designed a small ship to operate in both shallow and deep waters, carrying eight 16-pounder or 18-pounder carronades plus two long 6-pounder cannon as forward-mounted chase guns.

Henry Peake completed the design for the Cherokee class in 1807. The design was approved on 26 November 1807, with the first four vessels having been ordered in March 1807 but not laid down until December; by the end of 1808 another 30 vessels had been ordered to this design. After these 34, a further 2 were ordered in 1812 which were built of teak at Bombay. The design was revived after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and another 78 were ordered in two batches between 1817 and 1827. The first batch of these later vessels consisted of 35 orders (of which one was cancelled) whilst the second amounted to 44 new vessels of which 4 were cancelled and 6 replaced by orders for paddle vessels.

The class was much criticised, being popularly known as 'coffin brigs', following the loss by wrecking or foundering of a number of them. There seems to have been no particular fault in their design, but they were considered to be somewhat too small for the global duties they took on. Almost a quarter of them were lost, and they were also nicknamed "Half Tide Rock" as they had low freeboard so the deck was frequently awash with water, and solid bulwarks preventing the water from being shed quickly. William James, in his Naval History written before May 1827, dismissed the supposed design faults, and said that it would be "surprising indeed that the navy board would continue adding new individuals by dozens at a time" to "this worthless class". These open flush-decked ships lacked a forecastle to deflect heavy seas crashing over the bow: one was added to Beagle in 1825 before its first voyage, together with a mizzen mast which improved the handling. Despite these modifications to the design, Captain Pringle Stokes protested that "our decks were constantly flooded".

Further extensive modifications were made for the second voyage of HMS Beagle. Darwin noted in his journal in April 1833 that "It blew half a gale of wind; but it was fair & we scudded before it. — Our decks fully deserved their nickname of a "half tide rock"; so constantly did the water flow over them", but John Lort Stokes who was on all three survey expeditions praised Beagle: "The reader will be surprised to learn that she belongs to that much-abused class, the '10-gun brigs'—coffins, as they are not infrequently designated in the service; notwithstanding which, she has proved herself, under every possible variety of trial, in all kinds of weather, an excellent sea boat."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Saracen_(1831)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee-class_brig-sloop
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 January 1858 - John Gilpin, an 1852 clipper in the California trade, abandoned after collision with iceberg


John Gilpin was an 1852 clipper in the California trade, named after the literary character John Gilpin.
The ship was known for its 1852 race against the clipper Flying Fish, and for its collision with an iceberg.

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LESLIE A. WILCOX (BRITISH 1904-1982). THE AMERICAN CLIPPER SHIP “JOHN GILPIN” LEAVING BOSTON.

Voyages
  • New York to San Francisco, Captain Ring, 114 days, 1854–55
  • New York to San Francisco, 133 days, 1855
  • Manila to New York, 111 days, 88 days from Anjer, 1855
  • New York to San Francisco, 139 days, 1856
  • Honolulu to New Bedford, carrying a cargo of whale oil, 117 days, 1857
  • Boston to Honolulu, Captain John F. Ropes, 116 days, 1857
Race with Flying Fish, Wild Pigeon, and Trade Wind
John Gilpin set sail from New York City on October 29, 1852, arriving in San Francisco in 93 days, 20 hours, under the command of Captain Justine Doane. The best day’s run during this voyage was 315 miles. Flying Fish, which left New York November 1, narrowly bested John Gilpin, arriving in 92 days, 4 hours.

Clark describes the race between the two leaders, Flying Fish and John Gilpin, as follows:

The fleet was so large in 1853 that it was not uncommon for two or three ships to be in company at sea, each striving to outsail the others. As we have seen, the Flying Fish won the race this year, and from one of the finest fleets of clippers that ever sailed from New York. The match between her and the John Gilpin was exceedingly close, and taken altogether was one of the best ever sailed upon this famous ocean course, the Derby of the sea. It was Samuel Hall against Donald McKay, Justin Doane against Edward Nickels, and all against the fleet. The John Gilpin sailed out past Sandy Hook, October 29, 1852, followed by the Flying Fish on November 1st, and before the green Highlands of Neversink had disappeared below the horizon both ships were under a cloud of canvas. The Flying Fish fanned along through the doldrums and crossed the equator 21 days from Sandy Hook, leading the John Gilpin by one day. From the line to 50° S., the John Gilpin made the run in 23 days, passing the Flying Fish and getting a clear lead of two days. The Flying Fish did some fine sailing here; dashing through the Straits of Le Maire, she came up alongside the John Gilpin just off the Horn, and Nickels, ever famous for his jovial good cheer, invited Doane to come aboard and dine with him, " which invitation," the John Gilpin's log-book ruefully records, " I was reluctantly obliged to decline." This is perhaps the only instance of an invitation to dine out being received off Cape Horn. Few men have had the opportunity to extend such unique hospitality and certainly none could do so more heartily and gracefully than the famous commander of the Flying Fish. His vessel made the run from 50° S. in the Atlantic to 50° S. in the Pacific in 7 days, leading her rival by two days. From this point to the equator, the Flying Fishwas 19 and the John Gilpin 20 days. From here the John Gilpin showed remarkable speed, making the run to San Francisco in 15 days, a total of 93 days, closely followed by the Flying Fish, 92 days from Sandy Hook. Their abstract logs are as follows:​
Sandy Hook to the equator: Flying Fish 21 days, John Gilpin 24 days​
Equator to 50° S: Flying Fish 27 days, John Gilpin 23 days​
50° in the Atlantic to 50° S. in Pacific: Flying Fish 7 days, John Gilpin 11 days​
To the equator: Flying Fish 19 days, John Gilpin 20 days​
Equator to San Francisco: Flying Fish 18 days, John Gilpin 15 days​
Total: Flying Fish 92 days, John Gilpin 93 days​

When we reflect that this match was sailed over a course of some 15,000 miles, and that the difference of time was only twenty-four hours, one is impressed with the perfection to which the models of the vessels had been brought, as well as the exactness of the data relating to the winds and currents that had been gathered and reduced to a system by Maury, and with the skill of their captains, who were guided by his charts and sailing directions. The average difference of sailing between these two ships was less than six seconds per mile over the entire distance. Few races over thirty-mile courses have been sailed by yachts more evenly matched.​

23.jpg

Another contemporary account describes the strategies of the other two vessels in the race, the clippers Wild Pigeon and Trade Wind, and the impact of using Maury's Wind and Current Charts and Sailing Directions, which shortened the voyage between New York and California by 35 days, on average.

All sailed from New York in the autumn of 1852. The Wild Pigeon, October 12th, the John Gilpin, October 29th, the Flying Fish, November 1st, and the Trade Wind, November 14th. It was the season for the best passages. Each one was provided with [Maury’s] Wind and Current Charts. Each one had evidently studied them attentively; and each one was resolved to make the most of them and do his best. All ran against time; but the John Gilpin and the Flying Fish for the whole course, and the Wild Pigeon for part of it, ran neck and neck, the one against the other, and each against all. It was a sweepstakes with these ships, around Cape Horn and through both hemispheres.​
Evidently the Fish was most confident that she had the heels of her competitors—she felt her strength and rejoiced in it; she was most anxious for a quick run, and eager withal for a trial. She dashed down southwardly from Sandy Hook, looking occasionally at the charts; but feeling proud in her sweep of wing, and trusting confidently in the judgment of her master, she kept, on the average, 200 miles to leeward of the right track. Rejoicing in her many noble and fine qualities, she crowded on her canvas to its utmost stretch, trusting quite as much to her heels as to the charts, and performed the extraordinary feat of crossing, the sixteenth day out from New York, the parallel of 5 degrees north.​
The next day she was well south of 4 degrees north, and in the doldrums, longitude 34 degrees west.​
Now her heels became paralyzed, her fortune seems to have deserted her awhile —at least her master, as the winds failed him, feared so; they gave him his motive power—they were fickle, and he was helplessly baffled by them. The bugbear of a northwest current off Cape St. Roque began to loom up in his imagination, and to look alarming; then the dread of falling to leeward came upon him. Chances and luck seemed to conspire against him, and the mere possibility of finding his ship backstrapped filled the mind of Nickels with evil forebodings, and shook his faith in his guide. He doubted the charts, and committed the mistake of the passage.​
The Sailing Directions had cautioned the navigator again and again not to attempt to fan along to the eastward in the equatorial doldrums; for by so doing he would himself engage in a fruitless strife with baffling airs, sometimes reinforced in their weakness by westerly currents. But the winds had failed; and so, too, the smart captain of the Flying Fish evidently thought had the Sailing Directions. The Sailing Directions advise the navigator to cross the calm belt in as straight a line as the winds will allow, not fearing the land about Cape St. Roque, or the current that is supposed to sweep round it.​
Nickels, forgetting that the charts are founded on the experience of great numbers, being tempted, turned a deaf ear to the caution, and flung away three whole days and more of most precious time dallying in the doldrums. He spent two days about the parallel of 3 degrees north, and his ship left the doldrums, after this waste of time, nearly upon the same meridian at which she entered them.​
She was still in 34 degrees, the current keeping her back just as fast as she could fan east. After so great a loss, her very clever master became sensible of his error. Leaving the spell-bound calms behind him where he had undergone such great trials, he wrote in his log as follows: " I now regret that, after making so fine a run to 5 degrees north, I did not dash on and work my way to windward to the northward of St. Roque, as I have experienced little or no westerly set since passing the equator, whilst three or four days have been lost in working to the eastward between the parallels of 5 and 3 degrees north against a strong westerly set"—and, he might have added, with little or no wind. In three days after this he was clear of St. Roque. Just five days before him, the Hazard had passed exactly in the same place, and gained two days on tho Fish by cutting straight across the doldrums, as the Sailing Directions advised him to do.​
The Wild Pigeon arrived first off Cape Horn; but here she met with a westerly gale which detained her ten days, while her competitors, the Fish and the Gilpin, were coming up fast with fine winds and flowing sheets. The three swung round tho Horn together, as if entering on the quarter stretch.​
On the 30th of December, the three ships crossed the parallel of 35 degrees south, (in the Pacific), tho first recognizing the Pigeon ; the Pigeon saw only "a clipper ship"— for she could not conceive how the ship in sight could possibly be the Flying Fish, as that vessel was not to leave New York for some three weeks after she did. The Gilpin was only 30 or 40 miles off at the same time.​
Tho race was now wing and wing, and had become exciting. With fair winds and an open sea, the competitors had now a clear stretch to the equator of 2,500 miles before them.​
The Flying Fish led the way, the Wild Pigeon pressing her hard, and both dropping the Gilpin quite rapidly, who was edging off to the westward. The two foremost reached the equator on the 13th of January, the Fishleading just 25 miles in latitude, and crossing in 112 deg. 17 min., the Pigeon 40 miles further to the east.​
The Gilpin crossed the equator two days afterwards in 116 degrees, and made the glorious run of 15 days thence to the Pilot Grounds off San Francisco.​
The Flying Fish beat. She made the passage in 92 days and 4 hours from port to anchor. The Gilpin in 93 days and 20 hours from port to pilot. The Wild Pigeon had 118. The Trade Wind followed with 102 days, having taken fire and burned for eight hours on the way.​
The result of this race may be taken as an illustration as to how well navigators are now brought to understand the winds and currents of the sea. Here are three ships, sailing on different days, bound over a trackless waste of ocean for some 15,000 miles or more, and depending alone on the fickle winds of heaven ... ; yet, like travelers on the land bound upon the same journey, they pass and repass, fall in with and recognize each other by the way; and what perhaps is still more remarkable is the fact that these ships should each, throughout that great distance, and under the wonderful vicissitudes of climates, winds, and currents which they encountered, have been so skillfully navigated that ... I do not find a single occasion on which they could have been better handled, except in the single instance of the Flying Fish while crossing the doldrums in the Atlantic. And this mistake her own master was prompt to discover and quick to correct.​

Collision with iceberg on final voyage
On November 30, 1857, John Gilpin left Honolulu, Hawaii, with 15 passengers aboard, bound for New Bedford, Massachusetts, carrying a cargo of 7500 barrels of whale oil.

During the voyage, on January 29, 1858, about 150 nautical miles (278 km) off the Falkland Islands, John Gilpin struck the underwater portion of an iceberg and began taking on water. One day later, the ship was abandoned. John Gilpin was a total loss, having accidentally caught fire with 15 feet (4.6 meters) of water in her hold.

The British ship Hertfordshire, which was en route from Callao, Peru, to Cork, Ireland, picked up the crew and took them to Bahia, Brazil. On April 14, 1858, some of the crew members arrived in New York City aboard the clipper Sunny South.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gilpin_(clipper)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 January 1862 - The first U.S. Navy ironclad warship, USS Monitor, is launched.
Commissioned a month later, she soon engages in battle against CSS Virginia, the first battle between ironclad warships.



USS Monitor was an iron-hulled steamship. Built during the American Civil War, she was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the Union Navy. Monitor is most famous for her central role in the Battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March 1862, where, under the command of Lieutenant John Worden, she fought the casemate ironclad CSS Virginia (built on the hull of the former steam frigate USS Merrimack) to a standstill. The unique design of the ship, distinguished by its revolving turret which was designed by American inventor Theodore Timby, was quickly duplicated and established the monitor type of warship.

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The remainder of the ship was designed by the Swedish-born engineer and inventor John Ericsson and hurriedly built in Brooklyn in only 101 days. Monitor presented a new concept in ship design and employed a variety of new inventions and innovations in ship building that caught the attention of the world. The impetus to build Monitor was prompted by the news that the Confederates were building an ironclad warship, named Virginia, that could effectively engage the Union ships blockading Hampton Roads and the James River leading to Richmond and ultimately advance on Washington, D.C. and other cities, virtually unchallenged. Before Monitor could reach Hampton Roads, the Confederate ironclad had destroyed the sail frigates USS Cumberland and USS Congress and had run the steam frigate USS Minnesota aground. That night Monitor arrived and the following morning, just as Virginia set to finish off Minnesota, the new Union ironclad confronted the Confederate ship, preventing her from wreaking further destruction on the wooden Union ships. A four-hour battle ensued, both ships pounding the other with close-range cannon fire, although neither ship could destroy or seriously damage the other. This was the first-ever battle fought between two armored warships and marked a turning point in naval warfare.

After the Confederates were forced to destroy Virginia as they withdrew in early May, Monitor sailed up the James River to support the Union Army during the Peninsula Campaign. The ship participated in the Battle of Drewry's Bluff later that month and remained in the area giving support to General McClellan's forces on land until she was ordered to join the blockaders off North Carolina in December. On her way there she foundered while under tow, during a storm off Cape Hatteras on the last day of the year. Monitor's wreck was discovered in 1973 and has been partially salvaged. Her guns, gun turret, engine and other relics are on display at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.


Design and description

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Model of USS Monitor

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Inboard plans of USS Monitor

Monitor was an unusual vessel in almost every respect and was sometimes sarcastically described by the press and other critics as "Ericsson's folly", "cheesebox on a raft" and the "Yankee cheesebox". The most prominent feature on the vessel was a large cylindrical gun turret mounted amidships above the low-freeboard upper hull, also called the "raft". This extended well past the sides of the lower, more traditionally shaped hull. A small armored pilot house was fitted on the upper deck towards the bow, however, its position prevented Monitor from firing her guns straight forward. One of Ericsson's prime goals in designing the ship was to present the smallest possible target to enemy gunfire. The ship was 179 feet (54.6 m) long overall, had a beam of 41 feet 6 inches (12.6 m) and had a maximum draft of 10 feet 6 inches (3.2 m). Monitor had a tonnage of 776 tons burthen and displaced 987 long tons (1,003 t). Her crew consisted of 49 officers and enlisted men.

The ship was powered by a single-cylinder horizontal vibrating-lever steam engine, also designed by Ericsson, which drove a 9-foot (2.7 m) propeller, whose shaft was nine inches in diameter. The engine used steam generated by two horizontal fire-tube boilers at a maximum pressure of 40 psi (276 kPa; 3 kgf/cm2). The 320-indicated-horsepower (240 kW) engine was designed to give the ship a top speed of 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph), but Monitor was 1–2 knots (1.9–3.7 km/h; 1.2–2.3 mph) slower in service. The engine had a bore of 36 inches (914 mm) and a stroke of 22 inches (559 mm). The ship carried 100 long tons (100 t) of coal Ventilation for the vessel was supplied by two centrifugal blowers near the stern, each of which was powered by 6-horsepower (4.5 kW) steam engine. One fan circulated air throughout the ship, but the other one forced air through the boilers, which depended on this forced draught. Leather belts connected the blowers to their engines and they would stretch when wet, often disabling the fans and boilers. The ship's pumps were steam operated and water would accumulate in the ship if the pumps could not get enough steam to work.

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Transverse hull section through the turret

Monitor's turret measured 20 ft (6.1 m) in diameter and 9 ft (2.7 m) high, constructed with 8 inches (20 cm) of armor (11 inches in front at the gun ports) rendering the overall vessel somewhat top heavy. Its rounded shape helped to deflect cannon shot. A pair of steam powered winches rotated the turret through a set of gears; a full rotation was made in 22.5 seconds during testing on 9 February 1862. Fine control of the turret proved to be difficult; the steam engine would have to be placed in reverse if the turret overshot its mark, or another full rotation would have to be made. The only way to see out of the turret was through the gun ports; when the guns were not in use, or withdrawn for reloading during battle, heavy iron port stoppers would swing down into place to close the gunports. Including the guns, the turret weighed approximately 160 long tons (163 t); the entire weight rested on an iron spindle that had to be jacked up using a wedge before the turret could rotate. The spindle was 9 inches (23 cm) in diameter which gave it ten times the strength needed in preventing the turret from sliding sideways. When not in use, the turret rested on a brass ring on the deck that was intended to form a watertight seal. In service, however, this proved to leak heavily, despite caulking by the crew. The gap between the turret and the deck proved to be a problem as debris and shell fragments entered the gap and jammed the turrets of several Passaic-class monitors, which used the same turret design, during the First Battle of Charleston Harbor in April 1863. Direct hits at the turret with heavy shot also had the potential to bend the spindle, which could also jam the turret. To gain access to the turret from below, or to hoist up powder and shot during battle, the turret had to rotate facing directly to starboard, which would line up the entry hatch in the floor of the turret with an opening in the deck below. The roof of the turret was lightly built to facilitate any needed exchange of the ship's guns and to improve ventilation, with only gravity holding the roof plates in place.

The turret was intended to mount a pair of 15-inch (380 mm) smoothbore Dahlgren guns, but they were not ready in time and 11-inch (280 mm) guns were substituted. Each gun weighed approximately 16,000 pounds (7,300 kg). Monitor's guns used the standard propellant charge of 15 pounds (6.8 kg) specified by the 1860 ordnance for targets "distant", "near", and "ordinary", established by the gun's designer Dahlgren himself. They could fire a 136-pound (61.7 kg) round shot or shell up to a range of 3,650 yards (3,340 m) at an elevation of +15°.

The top of the armored deck was only about 18 inches (460 mm) above the waterline. It was protected by two layers of 1⁄2-inch (13 mm) wrought iron armor. The sides of the "raft" consisted of three to five layers of 1-inch (25 mm) iron plates, backed by about 30 inches (762 mm) of pine and oak. Three of the plates extended the full 60-inch (1,524 mm) height of the side, but the two innermost plates did not extend all the way down. Ericsson originally intended to use either six 1-inch plates or a single outer 4-inch (100 mm) plate backed by three 3⁄4-inch (19 mm) plates, but the thicker plate required too much time to roll. The two innermost plates were riveted together while the outer plates were bolted to the inner ones. A ninth plate, only 3⁄4 inch (19 mm) thick and 15 inches (381 mm) wide, was bolted over the butt joints of the innermost layer of armor. Glass portholes in the deck provided natural light for the interior of the ship; in action these were covered by iron plates.

After the duel between the two ironclads at Hampton Roads there was concern by some Navy officials who witnessed the battle that Monitor's design might allow for easy boarding by the Confederates. In a letter dated 27 April 1862 Lieutenant Commander O.C. Badger wrote to Lieutenant H. A. Wise, Assistant Inspector of Ordnance, advising the use of "liquid fire", scalding water from the boiler through hoses and pipes, sprayed out via the vents and pilothouse window, to repel enemy boarders. Wise who was aboard and inspected Monitor after the battle responded in a letter of 30 April 1862: "With reference to the Monitor, the moment I jumped on board of her after the fight I saw that a steam tug with twenty men could have taken the upper part of her in as many seconds ... I hear that hot water pipes are arranged so as to scald the assailants when they may dare to set foot on her." The chance to employ such a tactic never arose. There are conflicting accounts as to whether such an anti-personnel provision was installed.

Construction

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Launch of USS Monitor, 1862

Commodore Joseph Smith, Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, sent Ericsson formal notice of the acceptance of his proposal on 21 September 1861. Six days later, Ericsson signed a contract with Bushnell, John F. Winslow and John A. Griswold which stated that the four partners would equally share in the profits or the losses incurred by the construction of the ironclad. There was one major delay, however, over the signing of the actual contract with the government. Welles insisted that if Monitor didn't prove to be a "complete success", the builders would have to refund every cent to the government. Winslow balked at this draconian provision and had to be persuaded by his partners to sign after the Navy rejected his attempt to amend the contract. The contract was finally signed on 4 October for a price of $275,000 to be paid in installments as work progressed.

Preliminary work had begun well before that date, however, and Ericsson's consortium contracted with Thomas R. Rowland of the Continental Iron Works at Bushwick Inlet (in modern-day Greenpoint, Brooklyn) on 25 October for construction of Monitor's hull. Her keel was laid the same day. The turret was built and assembled at the Novelty Iron Works in Manhattan, disassembled and shipped to Bushwick Inlet where it was reassembled. The ship's steam engines and machinery were constructed at the DeLamater Iron Works, also in Manhattan. Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers, who once served aboard Merrimack, was appointed Superintendent of the ship while she was undergoing construction. Although never formally assigned to the crew, he remained aboard her as an inspector during her maiden voyage and battle.

Construction progressed in fits and starts, plagued by a number of short delays in the delivery of iron and occasional shortages of cash, but they did not significantly delay the ship's progress by more than a few weeks. The hundred days allotted for her construction passed on 12 January, but the Navy chose not to penalize the consortium. The name "Monitor", meaning "one who admonishes and corrects wrongdoers", was proposed by Ericsson on 20 January 1862 and approved by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox. While Ericsson stood on its deck in defiance of all his critics who thought she would never float, Monitor was launched on 30 January 1862 to the cheers of the watching crowd, even those who had bet that the ship would sink straight to the bottom, and commissioned on 25 February.

Even before Monitor was commissioned, she ran an unsuccessful set of sea trials on 19 February. Valve problems with the main engine and one of the fan engines prevented her from reaching the Brooklyn Navy Yard from Bushwick Inlet and she had to be towed there the next day. These issues were easily fixed and Monitor was ordered to sail for Hampton Roads on 26 February, but her departure had to be delayed one day to load ammunition. On the morning of 27 February the ship entered the East River preparatory to leaving New York, but proved to be all but unsteerable and had to be towed back to the navy yard. Upon examination, the steering gear controlling the rudder had been improperly installed and Rowland offered to realign the rudder, which he estimated to take only a day. Ericsson, however, preferred to revise the steering gear by adding an extra set of pulleys as he believed it would take less time. His modification proved to be successful during trials on 4 March. Gunnery trials were successfully performed the previous day, although Stimers twice nearly caused disasters as he did not understand how the recoil mechanism worked on Ericsson's carriage for the 11-inch guns. Instead of tightening them to reduce the recoil upon firing, he loosened them so that both guns struck the back of the turret, fortunately without hurting anybody or damaging the guns.

Ericsson's revolutionary turret, although not without flaws, was a unique concept in gun mounting that was soon adapted and used on naval ships around the world. His Monitor design employed over forty patented inventions and was completely different from any other naval warship at the time. Because Monitor was an experimental craft, urgently needed, hurriedly constructed and almost immediately put to sea, a number of problems were discovered during her maiden voyage to Hampton Roads and during the battle there. Yet Monitor was still able to challenge Virginia and prevent her from further destroying the remaining ships in the Union flotilla blockading Hampton Roads.

During the "boom time" of the Civil War, Ericsson could have made a fortune with his inventions used in Monitor, but instead gave the U.S. government all his Monitor patent rights saying it was his "contribution to the glorious Union cause"

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Officers on deck


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Monitor
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
30 January 1862 – Launch of USS Paul Jones, a large 1,210-ton sidewheel, double-ended, steam gunboat


USS Paul Jones (1862) was a large 1,210-ton sidewheel, double-ended, steam gunboat of the Union Navy that served during the American Civil War. She carried heavy guns and was assigned to the Union blockade of the waterways of the Confederate States of America.

During her tour of duty, she captured blockade runners and bombarded Confederate shore installations. Post-war, she served in the Gulf of Mexico for two years before being decommissioned

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Commissioned at Baltimore, Maryland
Paul Jones – the first U.S. Navy ship to carry that name—was launched 30 January 1862 by J. J. Abrahams, Baltimore, Maryland, and commissioned 9 June 1862 at Baltimore, Maryland, Commander Charles Steedman in command.

Civil War service
Assigned to the South Atlantic blockade

Joining the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Paul Jones sailed down the coast to engage the fort at Jones Point, Ogeechee River, Georgia, 29 July. Continuing south, she helped to silence the fort on St. John's Bluff, St. John's River, Florida, on 17 September, in company with USS Patroon and USS Cimarron.

While patrolling on blockade duty, she assisted in capturing schooner Major E. Willis 19 April 1863 off Charleston, South Carolina, and successfully took sloop Mary, loaded with cotton, off St. Simons Sound, Georgia on 8 July.

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Photo of the USS Paul Jones, possibly at the end of the war.

Attack on Fort Wagner
Paul Jones participated in attacks on Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor, (18 July – 24 July) and returned to New York City for repairs until she rejoined her squadron 15 September. She continued her coastal operations until late August 1864 when she sailed to Boston, Massachusetts and decommissioned 19 September.

Post-war service and disposition
Paul Jones recommissioned at the Boston Navy Yard 1 April 1865 for further service in the Gulf of Mexico. On 31 March 1866 she was stationed at Mobile, Alabama, and in July 1867 she returned to New York City, decommissioned, and was sold on the 13th.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Paul_Jones_(1862)
 
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